Hunter Indoor Sports Centre (HISC)

I would like to put in writing my strong objection to the proposal to build the Hunter Indoor Sport Centre on Wallarah and Blackley Ovals.

Whilst it may well be that Newcastle basketball requires a new stadium, this is not the right site and it will be a very poor outcome if these ovals, which are well utilized by Lambton High School, local sporting clubs as well as many other different facets of the community in general, are lost.

It has been well commented on in the media just what a contentious proposal this is and it does not seem an exaggeration to say that this was one of the issues that decided the recent mayor elections in Newcastle with the incoming Mayor Dr Ross Kerridge stating his opposition to building on the ovals.

The first point I would like to make is the impact that losing this open green space will have on the community. The NSW Government “Public Open Space Strategy for NSW 2022” highlights the importance of public open space for the community and how “these spaces play a crucial role in ecological, social and cultural role in our lives”. It goes on to stress how important these open green spaces will be with the population growth expected within NSW and also refers to the fact that in a 2019 study, what people want to see was “certainty that these public spaces will be protected into the future” The proposal to effectively turn these green spaces in to a car park and stadium are in direct conflict with the government’s own paper on public open spaces.

The HISC proposal frequently claims that the stadium will be a benefit to the community. I dispute these claims. It has been widely acknowledged that public open spaces help mitigate the impact of a changing climate and the urban heat island effect in our towns and cities. Losing the ovals will be detrimental for this reason.

Having been a resident in Lambton during the Covid 19 pandemic, these ovals were invaluable to the local community to be able to safely get outside, breath fresh air and recover ones mental health by just simply going on a walk during those troubling times. If a pandemic occurs again, an indoor basketball stadium wont be of any use at all to the community.

The proposal suggests that HISC will be a benefit to Lambton High School as they will now have access to indoor sports facilities. Lambton High School already has an indoor sports hall as well as several covered basketball/soccer courts. It does not need more indoor sports facilities. What it does need, and what it currently has but will lose if this proposal goes ahead, is the use of open green spaces. These fields are used on almost a daily basis by the school for sports, cross country, lunchtime activities as well as being a key part of its emergency evacuation plans. From speaking to parents of children at Lambton High School, it would seem that there is overwhelming opposition to this proposal. Despite the claims of the proposal, the HISC is in no way a benefit to Lambton High School and will have a significant negative impact.

The proposal also makes the claim that it will be a benefit to the whole community for the health and fitness benefits that it will offer. This only really applies for members of the community who have the money to sign up with Newcastle Basketball as well as the physical ability and desire to play basketball. An open green space can be enjoyed at no cost by the whole community regardless of age, wealth or physical ability. Having an indoor sports facility is hardly a benefit to someone, for example, who is elderly - I’m not sure there are many pensioners who can slam dunk. There are however plenty who like to walk in open air and enjoy the health benefits it offers.

The accuracy of the traffic assessments seems dubious with the report clearly staring that in multiple places the data cannot be verified due to camera coverage limitations, limitations of camera set up, camera angel set up etc.

The proposal states that the intention is to enter and leave the site via the north bound lane of Turton Road. To access it from the north though will require travelling south along Turton Road, turning right into Young Road (driving straight passed the school), and driving round a series of quiet residential suburban streets to access Turton road south of the stadium. I would question the wisdom and safety considerations of directing more and more traffic through a school zone and through residential streets.

Furthermore in the Social and Economic Assessment (page 19) it states that Newcastle Basketball current 5,500 membership would be between 8,000-9,000 if adequate facilities were available rising to 10,000 by 2041. This means almost double the basketball users within the coming years. This would put even more strain on the traffic being sent along these residential roads and through the school zone. Has consideration been given to the impact of doubling the number of visitors to HISC combined with general expect traffic use caused by growth population?

A 240 car parking space is clearly insufficient to meet the needs of the projected 10,000 members. This will mean that parking will undoubtedly spill out onto the surrounding streets.

The proposal to use the McDonald Jones Stadium car park as an overflow is poorly thought out and ill-considered. Firstly, under the Broadmeadow Strategy, this car park will no longer exist in the future, but also because this would require potentially thousands of pedestrians each week crossing back and forth across Turton Road at the pedestrians crossing and stopping the flow of traffic along a major road.

With the Knights NRL team often achieving nearly 30,000 people in attendance, traffic around the nearby stadium is understandably chaotic. Parking envelopes the surrounding streets and this is well documented. Young Road (the recommended entry route for south bound traffic to the stadium in the HISC proposal) is even closed down to traffic for hours leading up to Knights home games. This combined with other sporting events as well as concerts that are regularly featured at McDonald Jones Stadium will only add to the problems. This suggests that for large parts of what will be the HISC peak times, visitors could have great difficulty in actually accessing the HISC as well as McDonald Jones Stadium.

The ovals are used to help disperse the crowds when concerts or Knights matches are over. Thousands of pedestrians cut across these ovals in order to return to their cars and homes. If this is no longer possible due to the building of the HISC then this will put more foot traffic onto the nearby footpaths. I have seen for myself that these footpaths surrounding the stadium can already become congested to the point of foot traffic overflowing onto the roads. The HISC will therefore impact the safety of crowds trying to disperse from the McDonald Jones stadium.

From speaking to firemen from Lambton Fire Station, it is already difficult for them to access some of the streets surrounding Wallarah oval in their fire trucks when there are cars parked on the streets. Given the increased likelihood of parking on these streets becoming a regular occurrence, this proposal will severely impact their ability to provide emergency services in this area effectively.

As I understand matters, Newcastle Basketball were awarded $25m for a new stadium. Some of these funds would have already been spent on designs and applications for previous proposals on other sites which were rejected. There will likely be less than $25m left now to actually spend on the construction. The proposal has forecast an expected cost of over $90,000,000 (including GST). This is far in excess of the $25million that has been awarded. Even assuming that the $90m cost doesn’t blow out further over time as it undoubtedly will given the general increase in constructions costs and inflation, where is this extra funding going to come from? Numerous schools, universities, gyms etc all seem to be able to build indoor sports halls/basketball courts for their members without I’m sure having to spend tens of millions of dollars. As a tax payer, I would be very concern about the government allocating this amount of money for this project. Based on the 5,500 existing membership this would involve the government paying over $16,000 per member of Newcastle Basketball. Even if membership rates increase, as Newcastle Basketball claim, to the 8,000 to 9,000, this still equates to the NSW government investing over $10,000 per member. This seems to me an extraordinarily expensive investment to make from a state government which is projected to have a budget deficit of $3.6 billion in 2024/25 on top of the $166 billion of gross debt – as per the NSW budget 2024/25 figures on the NSW government website. Are other sports and regions of NSW going to receive similar funding? Surely some sensible and fiscally responsible decision needs to be made and this proposal has just become too expensive to be viable.

As a local resident i have seen the storm drain running alongside the ovals become close to overflowing whenever it rains. At the moment the ovals act as a natural sponge to help absorb some of the rainfall. The HISC will take away this protection and cause a potential flood risk. The HISC proposal of raintanks seem an ineffective solution. What will happen if we have a large storm and the raintanks fill up? Also keep in mind that the 2007 Pasha Bulker floods caused a fatality when a man was swept by floodwaters in Lambton, very close to the proposed HISC site, and into the storm drain to his death. HISC will only increase the likelihood of a similar tragedy reoccurring. Surely a basketball stadium is not worth this risk!

The proposal for the HISC to be built on the ovals is a poor decision for many, many reason. My hope is that some common sense prevails and this valuable and much loved green space is not forever lost to the community.

Loss of green space Detrimental to local community.
Increased traffic to an already high density traffic in residential housing area.
Loss of parkland to local sports groups using the fields year-round.
Loss of valuable outdoor recreational space for local schools.

Basis for my objection can be summarized in the categories below;
- Impact of reduction in mixed use public/green space.
- Environmental impact of paving over urban green space and flood plain areas; will become more problematic as extreme weather events increase in number and severity.
- Impact on sporting teams; specifically LJFC who's teams train and play on these fields. There will be a broader impact as the LJFC JDL teams also host a majority of the games annually including for other clubs.
- Cumulative impact on parking in the area of concurrent events at adjacent venues.
Questions to be answers;
- Has the project allowed for impact of increased population density and demands on existing use case of the space?
- Has the project design factored in down stream impact of reduced absorption during flood events in the future?
- Have alternative arrangements for local sporting teams using existing space been planned for and agreed upon?
- Does the parking plan allow for multiple events and adjacent venues and impact on local residents?

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This is a seriously flawed project. This location is totally inappropriate for this submission. Any proposal that removes 3 existing green spaces and fields utilised by football, soccer and cricket and also the existing nearby schools is not equitable. Another more suitable site needs to be found immediately or the decision to sell the land the existing stadium is on for housing be reviewed and looked at. This can not and should not go ahead and the sentiment of the people must be listed to here

I don’t believe that due consideration has been given to the importance of green space to the community. The ovals that will be replaced by the Centre have significant use by sporting teams which I note on most evenings when I ride past on my way home from work. I understand that the assessment of usage of the green space was completed during COVID when sporting groups were not active. I believe this assessment should be re-done.
The ovals are also utilised by Lambton High School students during school hours for PE and sports classes. There is limited other open space for use for these classes, which are so important for mental health.
The centre will also exacerbate existing traffic and parking issues for the local area. Although events are planned to be staggered with games at the stadium opposite, I believe a large portion of people will still opt for parking on local streets which are already heavily impacted by events at the stadium opposite.
I strongly feel that the use of this site for the Hunter Indoor Sports Centre should be reconsidered.

I object to the loss of the well used green space in this area.

I oppose this project for multiple reasons:
1) the area already has too much traffic and no parking during events at the football stadium, this will likely make the issue worse.
2) The green space in the area is too valuable to local schools, sporting clubs and the community
3) Recent news suggest the available funding is no where near adequate for the scope of the project. It would be devastating to waste that land on a half baked stadium.


My children play basketball and it is in my personal interest to have the stadium close to home (Kotara), however for the good of the community I think it should be further afield to allow for traffic flow and continued access to the greenspace in the area.

I think the proposed site at Glendale should be looked at again, or some of the other previously proposed sites.

Lambton is simply not the right place for this.

I strongly object to the Hunter Indoor Sports Centre Proposal (HISC). Although I agree the current facility of Newcastle Basketball is outdated and needs updating, I disagree that the Blackley and Wallarah Ovals are a suitable location.
My concerns are:
1. Lack of Resident Consultation
2. Loss of Community Access Green Space
3. Loss of Use of the ovals to Lambton High students
4. Loss of the community bike path
5. Flood zone risk
6. Ovals are already fully utilised
7. Parking and noise impact
8. Lack of transparency about the future funding source and risk of a half complete inadequate facility.
9. Constant lighting disturbing residents
10. Lack of clarity over use and access
1. I live 190 m from the proposed development. (Attachment 1- the site of the ovals (red arrow) taken from the road at the end of my driveway). I can see the ovals from my front garden. I was not included in the community consultation notification, (Appendix LL pg 24) and did not even know the meetings were scheduled until after they had occurred. I do not feel the residents who will be substantially impacted by this development have had an opportunity to be heard. Local community opposition has been loud and evident, but no attempt has been made to allow these voices to be heard. This will impact my day-to-day life, and it is inadequate to not be consulted prior to the Major Projects stage. In the list of Community consultation (pg. 12& 55 Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) local residents are strikingly absent. A letterbox drop to 240 residents (pg 55 EIS) is manifestly inadequate when my home is just outside of this zone.
2. Community access green space is precious and once lost, is gone forever. This project results in a net loss of green space for our community without adequate alternatives. The substantial increase in nearby residents in the Broadmeadow Place strategy makes maintaining free community access green spaces even more important. The ovals are used on a daily basis- by residents, organised sport, and Lambton High school. It is not suitable to suggest this use can be met by nearby green fields (e.g. Ford, Kentish ovals) as these spaces are already fully utilised. In addition, this proposal takes a currently free access community space with equity of access and replaces it with an access limited, cost involved facility, which overall means a net loss of community amenity.
3. Lambton High school uses the ovals on a daily basis- the students use them at recess and lunch, as well as for their organised PE and sport sessions. This is essential to meet the curriculum of NSW secondary students, as well as allowing recreation and exercise during their lesson breaks. This is essential for mental and physical health. Ongoing temporary access during construction is meaningless. The students already have access to undercover basketball courts in the covered outdoor learning area, so access to the external half outdoor court adds nothing (pg. 58-59 EIS). It is disingenuous to suggest the students could use the green spaces up the road- this changes a free access green area to an excursion requiring a parent permission note and two supervising teachers- clearly not a twice a day every day solution. As a parent of a Lambton High student, students need space and time to move their bodies for optimal health and learning. Negotiating use of an indoor space (pg 59, 64 EIS) does not replace access to outdoor green spaces. The remnant green space (pg 62 EIS) is not adequate for the number of students.
The remaining small area of green space at the front of the school is woefully inadequate for the current > 1000 students, and with increased population density in the Broadmeadow Place strategy, the school facilities need to be maintained, not reduced as the student population will climb.
4. The cycle path along the Lambton Ker-rai creek is used as a commuter bike path to the city, and John Hunter Hospital as well as a recreation track by the local community. When governments are adding cycleways to encourage bike use (Hunter Regional Plan 2041 Objective 4- connected without car-dependent communities), the loss of a chunk of this path (Figure 4 Pg 17, pg.63 EIS) does not make sense.
5. On moving from Mount Hutton to New Lambton in 2023, my Home and Contents insurance cost escalated sharply, and many insurers would not offer coverage at all. This is because of the substantial flood risk in the area of this proposal (Pg 13, 86 EIS). Many local residents have lived through flooding in this area even with the current water drainage. The ovals function as a huge sponge, slowing and managing the flow of water into the Ker-Rai creek drainage system. With the loss of this huge land mass to absorb and manage rainwater flow, and a very inadequate plan in the proposal, all of this water will quickly overwhelm the Ker-rai drainage system and substantial increase the risk of flooding in the surrounding streets. The concrete car park will not absorb or hold water (Pg 13 EIS), but instead it will run off towards local residences. For this critical reason, this green space must be maintained.
6. The identified low utilisation (Pg. 57 EIS) does not reflect current usage. The ovals have daily use of the schools, community, and organised sport, including soccer and cricket. Access to community ovals is highly contested, with local clubs turning players away as they cannot be accommodated in the current facilities. Loss of these three ovals will mean even fewer opportunities for access. As this situation exists in all the limited green space in the area, there are no unoccupied fields this can be transferred to. Children and adults should be able to train for and play community sport in their local area. (Hunter Regional Plan 2041 Objective 3- Create 15-minute neighbourhoods). With the expansion of residents in the Broadmeadow precinct, the demand for these spaces will rise.
7. The number of planned car parks (240; Page 10 EIS), as well as difficulty accessing them (Left turn only, in and out on Turton Road; Pg 77 EIS) is well under the number of car parks required for the stated number of people per hour (500+ during peak times 4-8pm daily) who will use the proposed Basketball courts. As local residents we acknowledge the impact on our narrow streets of the parking for events at MacDonald Jones Stadium- the NRL games and A- League games, as well as special events (e.g. concerts, motorbike event). The nearby Hockey International Stadium holds event days for which parking overflows into our streets. The streets are narrow- when parked legally on both sides it is difficult for emergency vehicles to access. The Stadium publishes each year a list of dates for the local residents to allow them to be aware of when these events occur- an example of good community engagement. Sadly, on most occasions, cars are illegally parked in the nearby streets, despite clear road markings. When this occurs, I am unable to gain access to my property by car as the road is too narrow to allow access. As my home is 190m from the new stadium, and the inadequate parking provisions for regular use, let alone event use, it is likely that our streets will be parked out, and often illegally parked out by users of the proposed stadium daily. In addition, the noise disturbance as patrons walk back their vehicles with bouncing basketballs potentially up to 11pm at night will mean this noise is a constant 7 day per week disturbance to residents. This situation will exist 6am-11pm 7 days per week (Pg 32 EIS).
Also of note, the proposed use of the MacDonald Jones carpark for event days by Newcastle Basketball (pg 79 EIS) is not supported by the Broadmeadow Place proposal rezoning to E2 Commercial which may result in this car park no longer existing.
The traffic impact study has no data on the impact on the local resident roads directly adjacent to the proposal such as Duke, Gloucester, Marina, Young Roads. This is essential information to consider and does not exist.
8. Where is the funding for completion of the proposed project to come from? The initial grant of 25 million, which has now reduced to below 20 million as this is the third attempt at finding a suitable site is 70 million below the final project estimate cost, without adding the cost of inflation or ongoing maintenance of the facility. There is no clarity on where the rest of the cost will come from (pg. 3 Scoping report (SR)). Less than half the project is currently funded. It is my understanding that the $15 million grant application noted on pg. 5 of the scoping document was NOT successful. This risks the final project being very much smaller and half complete, so the facility the community ends up with paying to access in place of their green fields is not what is described in the proposal.
9. The proposal has 24/7 lighting attachment to it- disturbing the local community who currently contend with lighting from MacDonald Jones Stadium and the International Hockey field. Although reduced overnight, it is never off completely (pg.69-70 EIS), adding to the pre-existing light pollution. It also makes the outdoor gym, courts, seating and gathering areas usable 24/7, potentially causing a noise disturbance.
10. Although named the Hunter Indoor Sports Centre, the project description and applicant (Basketball Association of Newcastle) clearly indicates the application is for a new basketball complex. I note the application contains Mezzanine level function rooms. What are these rooms planned to be used for, and how often? Will this add to the impact on the local community? No transparency is available as to the full use of the proposed development.
Overall, the improved amenity to the members of Newcastle Basketball is far outweighed by the negative impacts of this proposed development and I recommend this proposal be declined and an alternative site for the development be sought.
Dr Shaylee Iles
23rd October 2024

The location of the proposed basketball stadium is not appropriate due to existing heavy traffic in the immediate area, existing severe lack of parking, loss of the fields to a number of other sports, overshadowing of the school and a complete lack of parking in an already overloaded area. The immediate vicinity has the largest sporting ground in the Hunter, hockey fields, soccer grounds, knights football centre and other commercial businesses which rely on customers to be able to park. A more suitable option would be to redevelop the existing site of the basketball stadium. This is already in use for this purpose so does not impact other users and is very close to the broadmedow train station. An alternative site could be the former nearby former gasworks site. The basketball community needs a new stadium however this is not the correct location. Additionally there is no sufficient funding in place to actually complete the project. It is short by many millions of dollars

I live less than 1 kilometre from the proposed site of the new basketball stadium. When the football or any other large event is on at McDonald Jones stadium the area becomes gridlocked, certain roads in the area need to be closed to handle the traffic, people constantly park over our driveways and when hockey is on at the same time the situation becomes much worse. If another large sporting complex is built on wallarah and blacklie ovals this will not only take away from the local sporting groups but it will create traffic chaos if we get a triple header,football, hockey and basketball. On a separate issue, after heavy rains when the nearby drains are full these ovals act as a large retention basin,absorbing a lot of the rainfall, if the proposed basketball stadium goes ahead it will only exasperate the flooding issues the nearby houses suffer.

I would love to see this project go ahead but NOT in this location. Blackley and Wallarah Ovals are highly utilised grounds. The loss of these grounds will be GREATLY felt across the entire Newcastle community as other, already over-utilised, sports grounds try to pick up the additional load. PLEASE reconsider a more appropriate, less utilised site (eg the old ground on the Northern side of the Glendale Sports Centre or the old gas works in Hamilton North).

Wrong place find somewhere else

The new basketball stadium is urgently required. This space appears to be under-utilised and should accommodate the new facility with little impact. However, I dont support the loss of the key east-west cycleway running on the southern boundary - this needs to stay and be upgraded to support additional walking and cycling trips. Parking could be reduced to accommodate this - there are many public and active transport options at this location

I do not think this project should go ahead!!
Why should two other sporting entities which have used this area for decades be forced to move for one sporting group. The cricket and soccer clubs are long times users and very successful clubs, moving to another area will change their whole dynamics. There will be no nearby clubs for children of the area to join for these sports. The Hunter Indoor Sports Centre should find an area to put their indoor sporting centre that won’t impact other sports clubs.
They haven’t even thought about the traffic in the area. As a local resident I can see first hand what it is like when there are major sporting events at the stadium and the hockey centre, there’s no parking, streets are blocked off and it’s gridlocked. We are trying to get more international acts to come to the stadium to perform as it’s good for the area but this will not happen if there is already too much traffic in the area. There is no room for the roadways to be expanded so that is not an option.
Putting a sports centre like this close to public transport such as the trains is pointless as mums taking their 7 year old kids to afternoon basketball straight after school are not going to opt to catch a train and then walk with a couple of other kids in tow. It would be quicker for her to take up parking spaces that are then not available for the residents who live nearby.
Residents who live across from the park will no longer look out to a park, with trees and birds and hearing laughter of children playing in a park, they will have a view of a big ugly building with noisy cars and extra pollution.
When it rains heavily that area floods. Instead of the water pooling in the park it would then be pushed to nearby streets and backyards causing more flooding of the roadways.
The children who attend Lambton High School will also be impacted by the development, they will lose their outdoor playing area. I see students using that park at all different times of the day doing many activities. We are trying to encourage children to get outside, get some sunshine and reduce obesity but instead we are just shoving them back inside.
It is the ‘Hunter Indoor Sports Centre’ so put it somewhere in the Hunter but just not here, somewhere where it won’t impact so many people in so many ways.
It will be a very sad day for Lambton and the surrounding suburbs if this crazy development goes ahead.

I object to this project due to the significance of its current use as a cricket ground, training and playing facility for Lambton Jaffas and also it is utilised by the high school. Where do you propose all of these activities will take place? Once green space is removed, that's it, it is gone for good. Nothing about this proposal makes sense. You cannot tell me there aren't other more viable options for the build, Newcastle is a very big city.

I object to the location of the proposed HISC. I believe there are better sites available that allow for continuing use of Wallarah and Blackley ovals. These sites already have traffic mitigation, minimal impact on residences, don't rely on the destruction of greenspace and are closer to public transport.
These alternate sites are: Shortland/ Entertainment Centre and Beresfield

Not the right location for this project.

Given the location of this project the traffic congestion increasing will be a burden to locals and all driving through the area. The removal of green space utilised by the local school would require any school field sports to be taken down the road and become and excursion creating more work for teachers. These fields absorb alot of the rain in the area to help reduce the likelihood of flooding. There is not enough funding for this project to be completed and they will end up with the same amount of facilities they currently have. We do not need any more traffic chaos or lack of green spaces in this area.

I own a property at 5/303 Turton Road, New Lambton, directly adjacent to Stage 2A of the project. The project proposes to build an indoor sports arena about 30 metres from the main bedroom of the property that will seat up to 2,000 spectators at national competition level events. This is a completely unacceptable level of impact on the property and will severely decrease the value of the investment. The projected construction period would impact the livability of the property and negatively impact the ability to rent out the property. The loss of visible amenity is unacceptable, what is now currently open parkland and sporting facilities, would become a large building that completely overburdens our property. Safe access into and out of the driveway cannot be guaranteed at any time given the large number of proposed users, stated at 55,000 event related visits annually.