Hunter Indoor Sports Centre (HISC)

I would like to submit my support for the proposed construction of the Hunter Indoor Sports Centre at a site in New Lambton.

I believe that our region desperately needs a new indoor sports facility like the one proposed, not just for Basketball, but for all of our community to enjoy for many generations to come.

The proposed site makes sense as it is close to the old site, has ample parking across from McDonald Jones Stadium, and would compliment the long term plan for the Broadmeadow Place Strategy.

As a father of two young children that play Basketball at the current facility up to 4 days per week, playing basketball in Newcastle has allowed them to build confidence, make new friends, and watch NBL1 games that inspire them and their friends to be the best they can be. This new development would mean these children could persue their interest in sport for generations to come.

Regards

I attended Lambton High School which is located next door to the ovals that Newcastle Basketball wants to build a stadium on. If those ovals are taken away from the school, they will never get that green space back and will not have the space to play any sport. Many students will not be able to pay the fee to use the basketball stadium, whereas use of the ovals is currently free. Please don’t put the wellbeing of basketball players above the wellbeing of students and other sports.

The current submission in regards to environmental, social and community has a negative impact.
The proposed location at Wallarah oval -
- Would create flood and water run off issues that are already high in this space.
- where is the Traffic impact stud? Where is the data showing how busy that space is currently and then adding additional congestion to roads that have no space for widening?
The parking for any event at McDonald Jones is already lacking and increasing the load to this area would create increased frustration for any local residents and also people trying to utilise the Stadium and McDonald jones stadium.
- Why is one sport being prioritised over other sports, the new development takes away already limited cricket, soccer and school Sporting fields? Our current youth already have limited availability of sporting options and data shows our children are doing less and less activities. How is taking from multiple sports giving to another a sounds solution?
- I refer to plan SK-A02 Rev A: how is 3/4 of the space being taken up as car parking. The car parking is more here than opposite side at McDonald Jones stadium.
- SK-A03 - the height of the Stage 1A, 1B and 2B appears to be over and above the residential houses in this space. What impact does this have on the houses to the South? The highest point in building 2A is over 16 mtrs, this will
Impact residents to the South and Northern sides.
- It is clear that NCC has not consulted with sporting groups, as this plan would not have made it to this stage if full Consultation was provided to all sporting, community and residential groups.

I support the HISC, based on:
(a) it is a community critical project for several sports (not just basketball) and will compliment the proposed sporting precinct
(b) significant resources and time have determined the location at Wallarah and Blakely ovals is the best option. This project is time critical given the current site is a "first mover" site to facilitate the Broadmeadow Place Strategy
(c) I recognise the loss of green spaces that will occur but believe the overall benefits of the project outweighs this, especially noting the numerous fields/green spaces that are adjacent to the proposed site. Additionally Lambton High will benefit from usage of the new facility while still being able to use the adjacent fields/green spaces.
(d) when assessing the pros and cons of this project the pros significantly outweigh the cons and underpin the overall benefits of the HISC

As a resident living close to the proposed Hunter Indoor Sports Centre (HISC) I am very concerned about the effect that this will have on Lambton High School and this residential area.
As a Registered Nurse for over 40 years I am well aware of the obesity crisis facing many Australians today. Physical activity is vital for not only physical, but also emotional well being. Having lived in the area for many years & also as the parent of 2 former pupils of Lambton High School, I am witness to the use that this area gets from pupils - not only during lessons or sporting competitions, but also during breaks. Habits formed & nurtured during this incredibly important time in children's development have helped to make my now adult children recognise the value of physical activity & they continue to play sport with friends made during their school years. It is vital to get young people off their phones & engaing in physical activity to support physical & mental health.
Whilst it is the responsibility of parents to raise their children to be active & nuture good exercise habits, unfortunately it often falls upon schools to take up this role. Whilst I recognise the need for a new location for the basketball stadium, I am appalled that this area would in any way be deemed the appropriate space for this.
Whilst this area is also in regular use for weekend formalised sport, I often see people exercising in this area when it is not being used by the school or local teams. There is also an abundance of native birds which graze safely on these fields.
This area is also for Fire & Evacuation purposes for Lambton High School, so the proposed location for HISC also raises grave concerns for the health & safety of pupils & staff of Lambton High School, should they need to evacuate.
Moving on, this residential area struggles with parking during sporting & entertainment events at MacDonald Jones Stadium. Roads are packed with cars in all the streets in the vacinity of the stadium when events are held & they are unable to support any further impact on this. How are emergency vehicles supposed to negotiate the narrow, residential streets if thy are even more congested? As you are aware, Lambton Fire Station is located in Young Road, not far from the proposed HISC. This point raises grave concerns about public safety.
Whilst I understand that work would be carried out to try & mitigate further flooding to this area, as has occured in the past - wouldn't it be better to reduce costs and actually find a more suitable location to start with.
Finally, I am very concerned about the lack of transparency & community engagement regarding this whole proposed development. As a resident I was not made aware of this proposal until it had moved far along in the planning process.

Loss of green space for local sports clubs and the 1200 students of Lambton High – the EIS references the sporting clubs being moved to other facilities, but no details have ever been disclosed as to where these are. The report also suggests that the students of Lambton high are advantageous in the proposal because they will be allowed to use the state-of-the-art facility. They don't need to. They have two covered basketball courts and 2 x ½ courts available to them. What they don't have is enough green space.
Currently, they use the ovals for all outdoor sports- footy, soccer, softball, javelin, and discus – sports required by the curriculum. They also have access to these ovals for lunch breaks, which allows them time outside in a park.
Lack of consultation of surrounding residents living less than 1km from the proposed site: I would have expected to be informed of community consultation opportunities. However, the map contained in the EIS for the distribution of fliers about community consultation shows even residents living 190m away weren't included or viewed as needing to be informed. According to the Community and stakeholder engagement report, an email was sent out to the basketball community, which I believe has over 5000 registered participants, inviting them to a targeted presentation held in December 2023. It wasn't until March 2024 that a letter box drop was done to approx. to approximately 240 local residents, providing information sessions at the basketball stadium. This is hardly consultation. This process was the delivery of information.
Traffic and Parking Concerns: Those residents nearby already experience significant impacts during large events like Knights games and concerts, with increased road traffic and widespread illegal parking. The proposed entry and exit are limited to a left turn in and out of Turton Road. This means if you're coming from the south, you can turn in, but when leaving, you can only turn left, likely causing drivers to cut through residential streets to find a route out. For those approaching from the north, west, or east, access is further complicated, as they won't be able to turn directly into the stadium. Instead, they may turn right on Young Road, navigating side streets, or take Monash Road, likely parking in nearby residential areas and crossing the footbridge over the drain to reach the stadium.
The Price Tag: The entire project is estimated at $90 million, yet Newcastle Basketball currently has less than $30 million. According to the EIS, the entire build is contingent on securing additional funding. Is it ethical to allow construction to begin without assurance it can be completed? Should all current oval users really be displaced for just six courts?

Flooding. What impact does this proposed construction have on the local area and flooding. Its hard to envisaged that such construction on this green space will do anything but add to the risk of major flooding of near by residential homes in severe weather.

I object to the HISC for the following reasons:

1. It is the wrong place. This location is an existing sporting field and playground for Lambton High School, as a grandparent to 2 LHS students, it is incredibly important that the fields are available for them to access sporting fields as a part of their school experiences. I have attached an image which shows the complete lack of playground available to students should Wallarah and Blakely be removed. This space is not only used for hosting other schools and classes, it is also the schools emergency evacuation space.

2. The Estimated cost of development is not viable with a cost of $90.75million (current) and no doubt climbing, the Newcastle Basketball group only have $25 Million - this is a $66 Million dollar hole that the Basketball community expect from Taxpayers for a sport that to be quite frank, is one of the smaller sports in the Newcastle area.
I was a President of a Touch Football club for 32 years, at different stages, we were running 5 nights a week with 300 teams a night, at no stage were we provided with such substantial Funding, in fact, we purpose built our own clubhouse out of our strict savings over 30 years to benefit our members. Touch Football and OzTag continue to not only have larger numbers in the Newcastle area but continue to grow at an exceptional rate. The fact that one sport can be given Crown Land displace long term users from those fields (who also invest a huge amount of time mowing, line marking and caring for fields over decades) is inconceivable - no sport in Newcastle should ever take precedence over another.

The argument that Basketball is turning teams away is not just happening with their sport locally, in fact, Wallsend Touch, Newcastle Touch and Maitland Touch were at capacity within 10 minutes of opening their registrations online - ALL SPORTS in Newcastle are seeing significant growth and are turning players away, we all have limitations on our growth. In the 32 years that my wife and I ran our Touch Association, our committee committed to a long term invested strategy to ensure our own capital works...We saved our money and built our own purpose built clubhouse that is still there for players to this day, this was fully funded by our club. It is difficult to comprehend that since 1979 and with numerous major sponsors, high registration fees that Newcastle Basketball haven't been able to invest over the years to secure their own facilities. Expecting the State Government to disregard current users, displace multiple clubs, players and supporters to hand over much needed greenspace to build their stadium is nothing short of entitled.

3. Parking & Traffic - I note in the EIS reports that Newcastle Basketball (HISC) intends to use McDonald Jones Stadium as an overflow car park, however, the Broadmeadow Place Strategy reports that the carpark will be re-developed into commercial and hotel facilities, therefore there will be no overflow opportunities in reality.
Additionally, the Broadmeadow Place Strategy also has conflicting reports in regards to traffic reporting on Turton Road. In Fact, the BPS Report states that the road is already at capacity - the EIS Traffic report of the HISC has missing information - camera's not working, obstructed views and unreliable data. The fact that NSW Government reports are already available, demonstrate that the HISC Traffic report is not a valid report and does not represent the fact that Turton Road, is already at breaking point and adding a LEFT exit only will only exacerbate the already congested Turton Road, but also impact Womboin, Wallarah and local streets.
My son lives on Gloucester Street, that already sees significant parking issues when McDonald Joens Stadium has games or events on, and has an overflow from hockey games. The additional street parking from the proposed development will further exacerbate difficulties in getting into his driveway.

4. VISUAL IMPACT - my grand daughter purchased her first home in the units on Turton Road, the proposed Stage 4 development will have a 16metre wall 15 metres from her verandah.

5. NOISE & LIGHTS - My grand daughters home will have lights and noise operating over extended periods of time - in the EIS lighting report mentions that lights will be on at 30% all night and are sensor controlled, so any movement lights then go to 100% - so not only does my 25 year old grand daughter lose her view, she is faced with lights that will shine in her home all night and as Basketball has operating hours from 7am-11pm, she will have the sounds of basketballs and squeaky shoes. Sadly, the noise report only reports on construction and not the proposed SIGNIFICANT sound issues for residents of the units once the HISC is constructed - another report that is does not provide a full report on the impacts of residents.

I object to the site for the proposed new Newcastle Basketball Stadium to be built on Wallarah and Blackley Ovals in Lambton. I am a local resident and the grandmother of several children who currently attend and others who will attend Lambton High School.
While l agree there is a need for a new stadium, the proposed site is unsuitable in my opinion for the following reasons:
1. Impact on locals
2.Impact on students of Lambton High School
3.Loss of green space
4.Parking issues
5.Flooding in area
6.Lack of community
consultation.
1.Impact on Locals.
▪︎proposed 7day,7am - 10pm use of BBall Stadium
▪︎ traffic, noise,lights and extra pedestrian traffic
▪︎ chaos in the area now if events - league, soccer,concerts, car/truck shows, are being held at McDonald Jones stadium and when competitions are held at the Hockey center across Turton Rd from the proposed BBall Stadium.
▪︎ effect on well-used cycleway/pathway adjacent to the proposed stadium.
2. Impact on Lambton High School.
▪︎ the ovals are used by High School students for PE, Sport, recess/lunch breaks, fund-raising events and whole school evacuations.
▪︎ learning in PE lessons will be effected as students will need to walk to and from suitable venues for lessons.
▪︎ Sport activities would again mean walking to suitable ovals or students may need to pay to be transported to other suitable sites.
▪︎ there is no indication of the length of time the H.S. will be disrupted as the the stadium is to be completed in stages which depend upon additional funding becoming available.
▪︎ continual interruptions to lessons from construction traffic and building site noise
▪︎acoustic and vibration impact as noise from cars entering/ leaving the venue and from the stadium itself- whistles, shoes squeaking, balls bouncing, starting and finishing sirens and from spectators and players at large competitions.
These issues would also affect local residents.
▪︎ Newcastle Local Environment Plan has no maximum height limit, so a planned 6 storey building will effect LHS in regard to shade and airflow.
3. Loss of green space and Sporting Ovals.
▪︎ these ovals are regularly used now by Junior sports clubs at weekends and for afternoon training sessions.Where are these Soccer and Cricket children to go if they loose these ovals?
▪︎ LHS uses this green space as mentioned above in point 2, during week days.
▪︎ green space is used by local residents for dog walking, kite flying, social ball games and gatherings
4. Parking and Traffic issues.
▪︎ currently cars search streets as far away as 1 -2km if events are held at Macdonald Jones Stadium or the Hockey center and this causes traffic gridlocks and results in illegally parked cars over driveways and on grass verges. I would predict cars would see the Basketball Stadium carpark as extra parking for these events. Also, cars exiting the area after events are frequently in queues for up to an hour. This makes it near impossible to return to your house if you live locally and are caught in this chaos.
▪︎ if the stadium is built, players, parents and spectators would have major difficulties reaching the carpark
▪︎ having 1 access/ egress
point from Turton Rd would add to the congestion, especially as Young Rd is closed for McDonald Jones Stadium events for hours before the event commences which would lead to Basketball users trying to use already congested small, local streets at these times or attempting to travel South along Turton Rd to turn into the Basketball carpark. This will be an issue most of the time as Turton Rd is a busy road and the turning waitbay is only for a few cars.
5.Flooding
▪︎this site is on floodprone land, ( as locals have been informed by insurance companies), next to
Ker-rai Creek stormwater canal, which can only just hold the water in usual rainstorms, as it fills quickly. Add run off from the proposed stadium and the area will flood. Where will the stadium water be drained into?
6.Lack of community consultation
▪︎ l live locally and have had no communication from Newcastle Basketball Association, Newcastle Council or the NSW Government - it was just announced that the new stadium was to built on the proposed site on NBN news.
▪︎ there has been no goodwill or trust created from Newcastle Basketball Association. They make no attempt to liaise with local residents and information given out by them in places such as Facebook and Newcastle Herald, see 'facts' change.
While it's understandable they must be frustrated with finding a site, this lack of community involvement is poor.
Summary:
It is a great idea to build a new, modern Basketball Stadium in the Hunter area. This however should not be detrimental to the children who regularly use these ovals now, to those who attend Lambton High School , to local residents nor to the reduction of much valued green space.

I’m a local living in a street adjacent to where the new stadium is proposed to be built. I’m also a keen basketballer and have been since I was very young. As much as having a new facility so close by would be great for me personally, I still think the proposal is not morally right.

Aside from all the practical and environmental issues raised, I disapprove of the proposal from a moral standpoint. Having already sold a space or asset without a properly approved place to put the new, should not make putting a new stadium in an inappropriate place more acceptable. It’s not just a matter of the all the environmental and practical elements that have no clear and comprehensive solutions provided to locals, but also the fact they bought their properties for their proximity to green space (among other things) and should not have this taken due to poor planning. Local residents should not have to pay (by means of extra traffic, environmental risk and dramatically changed sound conditions) for administrative failures of others.

This green space is important to the community and should not be converted into ‘built space’ to solve infrastructure issues that they have no part in causing.

This development should be stopped.

I wish to voice objection over the HISC on the grounds that the development will be detrimental to the community and way of life of New Lambton and surrounding residents and of future planned residents in the Broadmeadow area. Reduction of outdoor green space that will not be replaced anywhere nearby, will serve to diminish the amenity for all future generations in the surrounding areas.
Removing well-used sporting facilities from the area and relocating some 20km away will serve to reduce participation in these sports (cricket and soccer), increase traffic flow along a very busy corridor (New Lambton to Beresfield), increase parent's time to run children to sports and ultimately reduce participation in healthy outdoor activities. The development will take away green outdoor spaces from an area that is slated for a substantial increase in population (the Broadmeadow place precinct) within the next few years. One of the proposal's aims is to increase sport participation, but the end result will be taking away other outdoor sports to replace them with an indoor facility, that does not support the sports being uprooted. The 3 ovals are well-used by the surrounding community for ad-hoc activities, walking dogs and recreation as well as the organised sports who were consulted. I am a regular user of the fields, although I was not specifically notified as the consultation was limited to only 240 residences, although I live less than 3 blocks (850 metres) away.
The Glendale option is far more central to both Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, and has an abundance of undeveloped space.

I object for the following reasons:
- Loss of sporting fields used by local cricket and soccer clubs
- Loss of ovals and green space used by the local high school
- Safety issues around increased traffic and the loss of evacuation space for local high school
- Loss of public green space that cannot be replaced, green space which is important for physical activity and mental health benefits for all.
- Issues regarding the flooding that occurs in this area
-Green space in this city is being removed at a rapid pace. At a time when physical activity is declining, and cost of living makes the ability to afford to register for sports that utilise indoor facilities prohibitive for families, it has never been more important to have areas for the public to utilise for both passive and active recreation.

I object to the proposal - please refer to my attached submission .

I strongly object to HISC, in particular the proposed location that will remove playing fields for numerous sports and 1200 school students daily.

I will address some of the reasons that I OBJECT:

1. Estimated Cost of Development (Appendix G)
Newcastle Basketball Group only have approximately $25 million dollars, the Estimated Cost of Development is $90.75 million - there is a $66 MILLION dollar deficit. As the project is proposed to be staged over a decade, the cost of this development will proportionally blow out and become out of reach unless Newcastle Basketball can continue to Annually or Bi-Annually obtain SIGNIFICANT funding. In these uncertain financial times, it seems unlikely that State or Federal Governments will come forward supporting only one sporting group and leaving others behind. It is inequitable and unreasonable to suggest that Tax payers who do not play the sport (which is many more than do play) have to fork out money when our Public hospitals, schools and transport are priorities.
If the proposed location is approved, we are handing over much utilised greenspace to a building that will only take up a third of the space, therefore eliminating essential play space for 1200 students daily and moving long term users of the park (sporting organisation's) for a building that may never meet its 4 stages.

My three children went to Lambton High School and were Australian Representatives, my 3 Grandchildren are also students of Lambton High School and implore you to take a visual inspection of the school and the need for the Wallarah fields where the school hosts other school in school challenges, usitlises it as an extension of the outdoor space for PE, Sport and extra curricular activities.

As a parent of the 1990s, I am aware that there was a NSW Government agreement that Wallarah would be a part of the school as there is no other field space for students to participate in exercise. A simple Google Earth search will demonstrate that by removing this space, there will be no internal and external sport opportunities, and the option of moving them to other local ovals will require further documentation and approval from school and parents as an excursion - this places more pressure on our teachers and takes opportunities for students away for large muscle movement and team sports.

TRAFFIC
1. Exit & Traffic Concerns– Left turn onto Turton
For cars departing the basketball stadium heading to Southern suburbs there is no right turn on Turton Road,
therefore, basketball participants will have to take a left turn onto Young Road past a High school and residential
area, left onto Womboin then left onto Wallarah Road. As there is no Left turn to the Southern suburbs at the
Turton and Lambton Road intersection, cars will be dispersed through local streets. For example, from Wallarah –
Right onto Hobart Road, Left onto Rugby Road and through to Regent Street. This is on top of the cars that are
already parked onto local streets right next to the proposed sites – Monash, Gloucester, Marina, Hitchcock,
Henderson, Rex and Duke. This is without consideration of streets around Womboin.

My son and his family live on Glucester Street, he is the 2nd house from the corner of the proposed HISC, and already has ongoing issues with events with Knights and Hockey, adding basketball 7 nights a week from 6am-11pm will have an impact on the traffic through an extremely narrow street, and pose Emergency access to residents.

These residential streets are narrow, and when events are on at McDonald Jones or the hockey stadium, there is
gridlock, increased inability to get emergency services into the streets affected. Residents have cars parked in
front of their driveways, and have difficulties getting in and out of driveways. Should the HSIC be approved, this
will only add to an already chaotic local gridlock which will impact the ability to get emergency services down
these streets.
Additionally, Approx 3,200 new dwellings will be built at the newly proposed ‘The Broadmeadow Place Strategy’
(Appendix
Additionally, my 24 year old grand daughter saved and purchase her first home, a unit at 303 Turton Road - She will have a 4 storey high building overlooking her outdoor and loungeroom space - Their exit is a mere 5-10 metres from the proposed HISC exit on an already busy Newcastle road, and will increase the potential of accidents and viewing of the oncoming traffic, especially with the proposed trees and greenscapes in the artwork. My Granddaughter has only one entry and exit for 20 Units (approximately 60+ residents) and will significantly impact the traffic flow in this area as a further 20 meters up is a set of lights and main pedestrian crossing.

I live in Georgetown, 2.1km away from McDonald Jones Stadium which is directly across the road from the proposed HISC site, our house on David Street, sees SIGNIFICANT traffic and parking issues on Knights, Jets and special event days (see attachment), if we are seeing these issues 2km away, you can imagine that the local residents like my niece and son are having major concerns - cars parked in their driveways, no space for Fire Trucks in the event of a fire and significant traffic that takes up to 40 minutes to clear. Adding another Huge complex that operates 7 days per week will only worsen an already struggling infrastructure.

Wallarah and Blackley ovals are a vital part of the community. At any given time during the school week there are ALWAYS Lambton High School students using the fields for sport and PE as well as playing out there at recess and lunch.
As a former Lambton High School student, graduating 2021, these ovals are THE ONLY green space that the school can use for activities, with very limited space inside the school grounds. I believe the school even has an agreement with the local council that allows them to use the ovals for sporting activities… what will happen when they’re gone?
The ovals are also Lambton High School’s evacuation zone, there is no other open area close enough to be safely used for over one thousand people to get to quickly. Building the basketball stadium would be putting students at risk.
Not to mention the countless families that live across the creek from the ovals and the hundreds of people using it for cricket, rugby and soccer training and weekend games. Sending then out to Tarro as stated by former Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes would displace routines and quite honestly makes zero sense.
I believe the basketball stadium would be a great asset to Newcastle, although Wallarah and Blackley ovals are definitely NOT the right place.

Thousands of children, youth, adults frequently use the Broadmeadow site each week.
We need a place to play Basketball in Newcastle for the health and social benefits. Unlike outdoor sports such as cricket and soccer that have multiple areas around Newcastle to play at, Basketball only has 1 area. We need council to do the right thing and help us out, otherwise you will be displacing the thousands of children that look up to our premiership winning women’s NBL1 team.

A new Indoor Sports facility and home for basketball is a must for the sport to continue to thrive and grow.
A change in council and government should not affect previous decisions made and the project supported.

Area is congested enough with stadium, sports fields, racing track etc etc. a traffic nightmare, coupled with open fields lacking in area. Sport complexes should be within easy reach of public transport. Why is the existing vacant land surrounding the existing basketball building next to Broadmeadow railway station not being used? Or maybe some of the 42 hectares of railway land south of Broadmeadow station. Or better still further out near junction of M1 & M15 near Minmi on the acres and acres of unused scrub land that would bring people from out west , up north and down south together, and not bring the traffic load into an already over used road system in Newcastle. And if a decent Regular and reliable Bus service ran from from Broadmeadow rail to Minim and the New Hunter Sports complex it would be ideal. Do not over crowd our already bludgeoning Newcastle & Suburbs with more congestion.

As a passionate member of Newcastle Basketball, I support the Hunter Indoor Sports Centre proposal and I believe that our region desperately needs a new indoor sports facility like the one proposed, not just for Basketball, but for all of our community to enjoy for many generations to come.

Thanks for your consideration,
Newcastle Basketball Member / Supporter

As Newcastle residents, my wife and I object to this development for the following reasons:
This project would compromise inner city green space which is vital for the health and well being of our ever increasing population.
These ovals are the only green space for Lambton High School's sporting activities.
This area is prone to regular flooding. Any mitigation made by the developer is unlikely to succeed due to the nature of the drains crossing our city of which this green space is part. In fact such mitigation may direct flooding away from the ovals to surrounding residential properties.
Traffic in the area is already heavy at most times of the day and especially when large events are held in the stadium opposite.
The Basketball Stadium development would only increase this major problem.
Nine species of Australian birds inhabit this green location.
This valuable green space will be lost forever if this development is allowed to proceed.

I have stated three of the main reasons I object to this development below:

1. Permanent loss of green space
Newcastle is the second largest city in NSW. It is growing rapidly, and in the current housing crisis, both the government and developers are leaning toward high-density housing. This results in instant population growth, and if green space is provided, it is only in the form of small playgrounds or parks.

The loss of well-used ovals in the middle of a residential area would be an irreversible loss to the community—both sporting and residential. With an ever-increasing population, it makes no sense to displace thousands of high school students, primary school students, soccer and cricket players, and local residents for the sake of one sport (basketball). I lived a few hundred metres from these ovals until 6 months ago and used them almost daily. I cannot imagine Lambton without them.

2. Loss to school students
For fifty years, Lambton High School (LHS), which adjoins these ovals, has used them for physical fitness, sport & emergency evacuation. In fact, LHS pays an annual lease fee to City of Newcastle (CoN) for the use of the ovals. LHS has over 1,200 students.
New Lambton Primary School (NLPS) is almost exactly one kilometre from the 3 ovals under application. NLPS does not have ANY green space. It is entirely concrete & the more than 600 students frequently use these three ovals for sport & recreation, especially for athletics & long distance running.

NLPS students are zoned for LHS. For those students of NLPS to spend their entire thirteen years at school with no green space for play & sport would be a huge shame. The importance of open green space is well known for the healthy well-being of humans, especially children & young adults. I've heard the children of my friends and family state that they don't want to go to LHS anymore because they won't be able to play the sports they've grown up playing in the suburb.

3. Impact on resident's health
There is a plenitude of research published on the impact of local, walkable green spaces and the ease of access to greenery and consistent outlets for exercise on the health and longevity of populations. Myself, my family, and my friends made use of these green spaces daily for exercise, stress relief and improved mental health outcomes. Once these spaces are gone, they will never come back. Surely with the loss of so much green space in Jesmond, increased housing density, and worsening lifestyle disease rates - there must be an end to the destruction of public green spaces that are consistently used by almost all sectors of the community!