TG Millner: North Ryde RSL, Eastwood Rugby Club reveals new housing plan for sporting hub

A turf war is brewing in Sydney’s north over plans to turn playing fields at a major sporting hub into more than 130 units.

A turf war is brewing in a rapidly growing suburb in Sydney’s north over plans to turn playing fields at a major rugby union and sporting hub into residential units.

Three playing fields at TG Millner Sportsfield in Marsfield would be carved off to make way for 132 apartments as part of a new planning proposal released by the North Ryde RSL Club and Eastwood Rugby Club.

The proposal shows the development would include two storey homes on the site of current playing fields, along with new roads, a public park, and a sports court which could be used for basketball.

The development would involve rezoning the sporting hub which was created in the 1950s as the home-ground for the Eastwood Rugby Club.

North Ryde RSL – which bought the site from the rugby club in 2017 – said the need for redevelopment was due to the high running costs of the facility coupled with low revenue that has created an “unsustainable drain on the club’s resources”.

A concept plan of the development.

A plan showing where the new houses would be built.

The club said funds generated from the development would help it service its 25,000 members.

The redevelopment plan coincides with Eastwood Rugby Club’s planned relocation to a new $20 million sporting hub 13km away in Castle Hill that is proposed to be built as part of an agreement with The Hills Shire Council.

The site has been a sporting hub since the 1950s.

Plans stated there demand has declined for rugby facilities in Marsfield partly due to local demographics of the area with 68 per cent of residents having “ancestry from countries where the sport of rugby does not register on the radar”.

“North Ryde RSL Club and Eastwood Rugby have gone to great financial lengths to keep the TG Millner Field alive with Eastwood Rugby struggling financially for more than 20 years and the (RSL club) investing significant funds since 2000 to keep the fields afloat,” the proposal said.

“The (site) has reached the end of its life in terms of its rugby and licensed club uses and needs to be renewed if it is to deliver meaningful future benefits to the local community.”

“We are committed to creating something appropriate for the site that is special for the local community.”

Ryde Mayor Jordan Lane has opposed the development.

A photo of crowds in the stands at the facility.

Ryde Mayor Jordan Lane has hit out at the development plan, saying it would reduce recreation space in an area already facing a shortfall of sporting facilities. 

“These are pristine fields – people have played first grade rugby there for 70 years and it’s been in the history of Ryde for a long time,” he said.

“Once a site like this is redeveloped then the recreation opportunity and green space is lost forever.

A concept plan of the development.

“It flies in the face of what the community wants and we can’t afford as a community under pressure from lack of open space to lose any more of it.”

The proposal states the development would maintain low-rise density height limits across the site to address “overall local concerns about density and development levels in the local government area”.

Plans added there was an option for Ryde Council to buy the site however noted there were challenges including the sale price of $60-80 million.

The North Ryde RSL Club and Eastwood Rugby Club were contacted for comment but did not respond at the time of publication.

Ryde State Liberal MP Victor Dominello has meanwhile started a petition opposing the development, saying rezoning the grounds to housing “would be totally unacceptable to the community” and could place further strain on existing public transport and schools.