$10 million hockey hub plan turfed
PLANS for a $10 million hub in the Parklands are set to be scrapped after the site was deemed unsuitable - but there’s still hope an alternative home can be found in Adelaide’s greenbelt.
- Burnside and Adelaide hockey clubs want to redevelop Park 17
- Why Touch Football SA doesn’t want hockey in the south Parklands
PLANS for a $10 million hockey hub in the southeastern Parklands are set to be turfed amid opposition from park users.
But Burnside and Adelaide hockey clubs may yet still find a new home in the city’s greenbelt as Adelaide City Council eye another site for a major hockey centre.
The Adelaide Park Lands Authority, the body which advises the City Council on development in the Parklands, recommended at last week’s meeting that the club’s plan for two full-sized synthetic pitches at Park 17 be shelved.
Authority members were presented with the findings of public consultation on the plan, which found the majority of 176 respondents believed the proposal was “not compatible with the existing form and function” of Park 17.
Members of Touch Football SA, which is based in the southeastern Parklands, lodged more than 70 per cent of the submissions amid “significant concerns” they would be left without a home if the project went ahead.
As a compromise, the authority advised that council staff and the clubs investigate the “under-utilised and unsightly” southern part of Park 22, at the corner of Greenhill Rd and Anzac Highway, as an alternative site for a hockey hub.
The land is used as a carpark during the Royal Adelaide Show, but is otherwise vacant.
Adelaide Hockey Club spokesman Tom Game, who last week addressed the authority on behalf of the clubs, believed the Park 22 option “could work”.
But Mr Game stressed Park 17 was the “clear preference”.
He was disappointed at the City Council’s change in direction after in 2014 identifying the southeastern Parklands as a preferred option for a regional hockey centre.
“We are frustrated in a sense that we followed the council’s lead on this,” Mr Game said.
“We have expended a huge amount of volunteer time and energy … and our major concern is that we will be forced to repeat (the planning).”
The clubs last year approached the City Council with detailed designs for the Park 17 hockey hub, which they said would fill a gap in pitches in the region, attract new players and help draw international events to SA.
It would also end Burnside’s more than decade-long search for a home ground and clubrooms.
Authority member Anita Allen said while the council should focus its efforts on the Park 22 option, it should at least remain open to the possibility of a hockey hub at Park 17 in the future.
Ms Allen’s colleagues agreed, voting to recommend the council reconsider the southeastern Parklands proposal should the Park 22 plan collapse.
City councillors were scheduled to debate the recommendation at a meeting in September.