Glen Hartwig says sports field study on council’s website ‘flawed’

Gympie’s mayor has moved to distance his council from a 2023 study into the region’s sports field squeeze, which found the issue needed better management, not more space. But the report’s authors stand by their work.

Gympie Mayor Glen Hartwig has distanced the council from a 2023 study into the region’s sports field squeeze, included in a paper on the council’s website, which found the issue needed better management of existing space.

Mayor Glen Hartwig says a “flawed report” has stirred “confusion” in the community over whether the region needs more sports fields, after the study found the opposite.

The report was included in a town planning paper into open spaces and recreation parks published on the Gympie Regional Council’s website as part of its work to create a new town plan in 2024.

Clubs across the region have been clamouring for more land in recent years, saying there was a squeeze in playing space restricting their growth.

A draft Sports Field Study by third party group Otium Planning in 2023, of which excerpts are in the council’s planning paper, concluded the opposite.

The paper says Otium found “there is no current shortage in Gympie of sport parks”.

Their usage in the Gympie urban area was slightly shy of 60 per cent, it says, and although a region-wide shortfall would eventuate in 2046 as the population grew, this shortage would be minimal within Gympie’s urban area.

It suggested better management was the solution.

“Availability of sports fields, challenges with sharing facilities and amenities should be addressed through upgrading existing infrastructure and stakeholder management,” the report says.

However it says the council’s actions should “finalise and implement the recommendations” of the 2023 Sports Field Study.

An ongoing shortage of indoor courts and need for a new indoor stadium was identified as necessary.

Otium Planning’s report found there was not a shortage of sports parks in the region, a result which conflicted with concerns raised by sports community members about a playing filed squeeze restricting their growth.

A subsequent article on the online report published Tuesday, August 8, sparked backlash with prominent members of Gympie’s sports community including netball’s Colleen Miller, basketball’s Leeroy Todd, and rugby union’s Jason McPherson making comments on social media critical of the findings.

On Wednesday, Mr Hartwig distanced the council from the report.

“Councillors were presented with the report some time back as part of the planning process and identified that it was flawed,” Mr Hartwig said.

“In council’s eyes the report did not take into account the unique features that Gympie has to utilise or the needs of the sporting community.

“Councillors were unhappy with the report as such the CEO Robert Jennings has prepared a special briefing sometime back to deal with the areas lacking in the report,” Mr Hartwig said.

One Mile Ovals, Gympie, Google Maps.

The council’s online planning paper does not include any mention of the council disagreeing or rejecting Otium Planning’s findings.

Otium director Jason Leslie defended his company’s work.

Mr Leslie said he was “disappointed” by Mr Hartwig’s comments saying the company was “regarded as the trusted advisors to our industry”.

“We pride ourselves on providing quality, evidenced based findings and recommendations,” he said.

“On this basis, we stand by our analysis and our report.”

In March 2023, the council discussed the region’s sports fields in private before approving the CEO to continue negotiations on buying land for future sports grounds.

Mr Hartwig said this was part of a plan which included upgrades to Jack Stokes Oval.

In response to questions as to whether members of the public who accessed the online paper would be entitled to believe its findings were accurate, Mr Hartwig said “yes, however we would have appreciated if (The Gympie Times) would have sought comment”.

How the paper was published without any mention that parts of it were considered flawed was “a relevant question … asked by elected representatives”.

“The CEO is looking into this matter,” Mr Hartwig said.

“Council does publish documents digitally, however in this instance, this report was not vetted through elected members.

“This was an error and the process is being reviewed.”

Originally published as Glen Hartwig says sports field study on council’s website ‘flawed’