Toowoomba Region Sports Precinct master plan in Charlton changes adopted by council
The price tag for Toowoomba’s new ambitious sports precinct has blown out by at least $70 million, with residents facing years of additional delays under a revised master plan.
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Toowoomba’s new sports precinct will take years longer to build and cost at least another $70m, as part of the council’s revamped master plan of the mammoth project that could see construction start as early as 2028.
Councillors at Tuesday’s Toowoomba Regional Council committee meetings voted to endorse extensive changes to the Toowoomba Region Sports Precinct, which has been slated for a huge parcel of land next to the Toowoomba Bypass in Charlton for nearly a decade.
The alterations include reshaping of the delivery from seven stages to eight “precincts”, the earlier introduction of an athletics space with tartan track, removal of sports like baseball, archery and shooting, a new access point into the precinct and the relocation of a space for a future district park.
The amount of internal roads has been reduced by a third, while other assets like clubhouses and certain fields have also been shifted.
The project will still cater for softball, rugby league and union, cricket, tennis, AFL and touch football, to name a few.
In her report to councillors, manager for parks and recreation Sally Egan said the first three precincts, including rectangular grass fields, multi-use ovals and the tartan track were the only elements included in the current 10-year capital works program at a cost of $106m.
The delivery of all eight precincts, the timeline for which has been extended to 2041, could now cost between $265m and $315m.
Project services head Scott Dickson said this figure was a “pure change in the supply chain and the cost of doing business these days”.
The cost and timeline blowouts have been also due to the council choosing to pause the project for the next two financial years, as a result of needing to deliver the $266m Cressbrook Dam spillway upgrades.
Deputy mayor Rebecca Vonhoff, who pointed out the project would still not meet the current demand for local sporting infrastructure if it was opened tomorrow, asked Ms Egan if there were any further explorations into extra sites.
“As has been already highlighted, even in a scenario where this could be built today, we’d still be short of sporting ovals,” she said.
“We’re talking about 20 years here, and people need the fields right now. So you do the maths, carry the one, we’re really in a bind.”
Ms Egan told Ms Vonhoff the TRSP was the council’s “major strategic directive” and was “not actively pursuing purchases for sports facilities at this time”.
Toowoomba mayor Geoff McDonald welcomed the review, arguing the region deserved better local infrastructure to develop young athletes in their home region.
“The timing is interesting because 2032 is seven years away and the tartan track is potentially (delivered in) 2034,” he said.
“And this is where, from a legacy perspective around the Olympics and Paralympics, it would make perfect sense for us to be on the front foot.
“We need to push ahead, get to a point where we have a prospectus to go to government and be serious about the fact that we’ve got this (planned).
“Because our community deserves this.”
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