Primrose Park, Cremorne upgrade: St Aloysius, sporting clubs divided over council vision

A prestigious north shore private school has criticised a plan to change a major sporting field over concerns it could cause chaos for junior athletes. But local sporting clubs say it is essential.

The project includes major reconfigurations of Primrose Park.

One of Sydney’s leading private schools has hit out at a council plan to reconfigure a major sporting field over concerns it could cause chaos for junior athletes.

St Aloysius’ College is pushing for North Sydney Council to rethink a $600,000 upgrade of Primrose Park in Cremorne due to potential impacts on school events that currently use the green space for training and sporting events.

The council plan includes reconfiguring the park to create an extra full-size sports field – taking the total number of playing fields at the park from two to three.

The project is aimed at keeping up with record demand for more playing fields in the lower north shore as participation in sport continues to rise.

St Aloysius’ has written to the council raising concerns over implications including disruptions to sport training events during construction periods; potential impacts on its sport storage facility; and the potential for college ruby games to be “split’’ across various fields due to the configuration.

The park fronts on to Middle Harbour.

“The proposed changes present significant challenges for our winter sports program (and) could possibly see the college lose part or all of our current storage facility at Primrose Park which could create logistical pressures on Saturday and training schedules,” the school wrote.

“If there were delays (to the construction period) as there was with Anderson Park earlier this year, the college may struggle to have adequate field coverage for training sessions and Saturday fixtures come winter trials and leading into Term 2.

“This would also present logistical problems for the college, particularly as we are currently undergoing major building works at our Milsons Point campus at the moment with space at a premium.”

The project would create an additional sporting field at the site.

Various sporting clubs have backed the council plan including Football NSW which has pledged its “its full and unequivocal support for the sports field reconfiguration”

“With Australia and New Zealand hosting the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup we expect there to be a huge spike in girls’ participation right across Australia and NSW,” Football NSW said.

Kevin Johnson – president of the Northern Suburbs Football Association – said the project could see about 100 local games played at the site each year.

“The project is essentially moving a field 90 degrees and fitting in two fields as opposed to one at and it’s an efficient way of creating more capacity rather than putting in a synthetic field or looking for a new greenfield site,” he said.

“Our player numbers are increasing but in the last decade the number of fields (in the north shore region) have remained the same.

“There aren’t many opportunities to get new facilities and this is certainly one I thought all users would be in favour of.

“The inconvenience of it being impacted during construction is not ideal, but longer term there are benefits.”

The site is popular among dog owners.

But many residents have opposed the reconfiguration due to impacts such as noise, parking, and loss of passive open space. 

Multiple dog owners have also opposed the project due to loss of open space to exercise their pooches off-leash.

Resident Meredith Trevallyn-Jones believes the project was a “poor solution in sporting terms”.

“The location of a rugby field right next to the harbour means we’re going to have footballs kicked into the harbour. It’s very clear the council wouldn’t be proposing this if there were better solutions elsewhere,” she said.

Local resident Meredith Trevallyn-Jones said the development could have impacts on parking.

“There’s a loss of passive recreation space, even when there are games at the moment there are still opportunities for people to use it for walking.

“There’s also additional parking and there’s no public traffic to the park so people will have to come via vehicle which will have an impact on residents.”

A council report – due to be considered by local councillors – has recommended a “compromise” that could see the existing two playing fields remain in place.

The budget allocated to the project could be redirected to upgrades to the turf playing surfaces and drainage improvements at Primrose Park which would allow for increased playing hours on the existing fields.

The council is due to make a decision on the project at its next meeting on Monday.

A total of 140 submissions were lodged to the council during consultation on the changes – showing 73% opposed the upgrade while 27% supported it.

A council spokeswoman said: “St Aloysius is one of a number of groups (using the park and) its submission will be considered by council along with all the feedback.”