Hunter Indoor Sports Centre (HISC)

The new Basketball Stadium is well overdue. The community have historically been disadvantaged with the old and run-down exiting facility. The new basketball facility will go a long way in addressing community demand for not just basketball but other indoor sports (disable sports, volleyball, futsal, pickle ball plus more) - the potential for multisport using is huge. The community benefit is far greater with this indoor facility verse the current open field which is limited to one or two sports only (which are rain affected).

Acknowledging the loss of green space, this indoor sporting facility will generate a much greater utilisation rate compared to the current open grass field. The facility can also local support schools meeting their sporting infrastructure needs.

The location is central to the community with strong road networks already in place. I also see a shared parking opportunity with the Hunter Stadium and Hockey Centre being a benefit.

hy should the community support this proposal?
This facility is critical to meeting the needs of existing and future indoor sport members
and the broader community. The project has enormous health and well-being benefits
for Newcastle and the region. Social, climatic and development trends are increasing
the popularity of indoor sports. Per square meter, an indoor facility can accommodate
up to 10 times the activity of outdoor facilities and provide protection from extreme
weather. They facilitate community cohesiveness and social connectivity and act as a
focal point for the community bringing together a diverse range of users. Once built
these facilities are sustainable operations that don’t need to be subsidised by the rest
of the community.
This is truly a community sport and recreation asset that will provide lasting benefits for
the region for decades to come. The opportunity is here and now to achieve a great
outcome for the community.

I believe that this region and those relevant sporting codes, would greatly benefit from a new indoor sports centre.

I strongly support approval of the Hunter Indoor Sports Centre (HISC) State Significant Development on Turton Road, New Lambton (SSD-65595459). The proposal delivers fit-for-purpose indoor courts and community facilities in the right location, aligned with NSW and City of Newcastle strategy for the Broadmeadow/Hunter Park precinct, with clear social, health and economic benefits that can be delivered while responsibly managing traffic, flooding and open-space outcomes.

1) What’s proposed — and why it matters
• The HISC proposes 12 indoor multi-purpose courts, including a show court with about 2,500 spectator seats, plus allied-health suites, gym/movement studio, multi-purpose rooms, café/social spaces, changerooms and on-site parking. This mix enables weekly community sport and the capacity to host regional/state tournaments.
• The project is opposite McDonald Jones Stadium, within Newcastle’s established sport & entertainment spine, and within a 10–15 minute walk of Broadmeadow Station, enabling sustainable access from across the region.

2) Strategic alignment
• The site sits inside the Broadmeadow Place Strategy (BPS) footprint, which aims to deliver a world-class sport/entertainment precinct with improved public transport connections and a walkable, mixed-use community. Recent Stage 1 rezoning confirms government commitment and nominates HCCDC as coordination agency. HISC directly advances these adopted outcomes by consolidating major indoor sport next to the stadium precinct.
• City of Newcastle’s exhibition advice supports the precinct logic and emphasises a new pedestrian boulevard between Broadmeadow Station and Hunter Park—a movement spine the HISC can plug into and help activate from day one.

3) Meeting a clear community need
• Newcastle Basketball’s current venue is more than 50 years old and earmarked as an early relocation site under the BPS; its lease ends in 2028. The HISC consolidates basketball, volleyball, pickleball, futsal, badminton, cheer and wheelchair sport, expanding participation capacity that outdoor fields cannot meet (particularly in heat/extreme weather).
• The program includes two courts designed for school use and structured daytime access for Lambton High School, giving students safe, year-round access to indoor sport/PE, with kiosk operations managed to avoid canteen impacts during school hours.

4) Economic and precinct benefits
• The show court (≈2,400–2,500 seats) enables regional/state events that complement the 33,000-seat stadium—not compete with it—bringing weekend visitation and spend to local hospitality without major-event scale impacts. City messaging highlights the Turton Road site’s transport links and surrounding accommodation as a strong platform for tournaments.
• The project supports Hunter Park/Broadmeadow renewal, leveraging public investment in the precinct and aligning with NSW Government rezoning that underpins housing/jobs growth next door—exactly the co-location of sport, transport and community services the BPS seeks.

5) Traffic, access and parking — why the solution is workable
• Day-to-day use is comparable to the existing stadium’s weekly programming. The design proposes left-in/left-out access to Turton Road, an internal ring road to prevent queuing, and on-site parking planned at ~19 spaces per court plus allowances for commercial tenancies. For bigger events, shared-use parking at McDonald Jones Stadium is proposed, coordinated to avoid clash days. These are sensible, standard tools for managing traffic in a sports precinct.
• City advice notes the opportunity to formalise on-street parking on Monash Road, rationalise kerb lanes on Turton Road and update crossings—practical, low-cost improvements that spread demand and keep residential streets functioning. Conditions can require a Transport & Event Management Plan covering clash-day protocols across HISC, the Stadium and nearby venues.

6) Flooding and water management — a safer outcome than status quo
• The ovals are known flood collectors today. The EIS-informed design places buildings and car parks to mitigate and manage flood behaviour, with modelling showing negligible post-development changes at the 1% AEP (2050) event and a car-park layout that assists flood storage and conveyance.
• Council’s advice calls for clear flood refuge planning (incl. signage and capacity) and careful design near Lambton Ker-rai Creek. These are straightforward, codified requirements in NSW; approval conditions can mandate final refuge numbers, levels of protection, WSUD and riparian planting. The result is a net-safer, more legible flood response than today’s open ovals.

7) Open space and local sport — replacing quantity with quality
• The proposal retains public open space on site (≈4,500 m² adjacent to the school’s COLA) and, prior to Stage 2, maintains ~22,000 m² accessible area for community recreation. Importantly, City of Newcastle has worked with cricket and football on relocations to better-drained, lit facilities, with letters of support referenced—improving net access and reliability for field sports that currently lose time when the ovals are waterlogged.
• This is a quality-over-quantity outcome: high-utilisation indoor courts (all-weather, all-day) plus improved field sport options across nearby venues—consistent with contemporary city-wide sports planning.

8) Design excellence, inclusion and safety
• The HISC brief includes universal access, seating, amenities and circulation that support disability sport and inclusive programming—materially expanding who can participate in local sport.
• CPTED, lighting, passive surveillance and the station-to-stadium pedestrian routes identified in the BPS will lift perceived and actual safety across the broader precinct. Approval conditions can lock in wayfinding, end-of-trip cycling facilities and tree canopy targets.

Anticipating and responding to common objections
1) “Traffic and parking will overwhelm local streets and the school.”
Day-to-day traffic is modest and comparable to current usage profiles; the access is left-in/left-out with an internal ring road to stop queuing on Turton Road, and parking supply is calibrated to typical demand. Larger events are infrequent and coordinated with the stadium and hockey centre, using existing stadium parking that sits idle outside major events. Conditions can require: (a) an Event/Clash-Day Protocol, (b) live parking management, (c) monitoring and adaptive kerbside controls.

2) “The site floods—buildings will worsen flood risk.”
Today’s ovals already flood; the proposal improves control through site grading, car-park storage and building placement, with modelling indicating negligible net change at the 1% AEP (2050). Approval can be tied to final detailed modelling, flood-compatible materials, safe egress and a documented flood refuge plan meeting Council’s guidance. That is a safer, clearer outcome than the status quo.

3) “We’re losing green space.”
The design keeps meaningful open space on site for students and locals, while upgrading field-sport outcomes at other nearby venues (better drainage, lighting and amenities), improving the reliability of outdoor sport access across the week and seasons. The majority of HISC use happens after school and evenings, when it’s most needed.

4) “It will bring stadium-scale crowds and noise.”
A HISC sell-out is ≈2,400–2,500 people—a fraction of the 33,000-seat stadium across the road. Most programming is community sport, not concerts. Conditions can cap event hours, require acoustic compliance, and schedule with Venues NSW to avoid clashes.

5) “Why not build it somewhere else / later?”
Extensive site investigations over several years found no viable alternative site available; the current Broadmeadow stadium is a first-mover BPS site with a lease ending in 2028. Funding is secured and time-limited (NSW Office of Sport contribution $25 million already announced), making timely delivery at Turton Road essential to avoid a gap in indoor-sport provision.

6) “Ratepayers will be liable for ongoing costs.”
The proponent notes modern multi-court centres are sustainably operated through user fees, events and allied-health/commercial tenancies, reducing reliance on subsidy. Fit-for-purpose design, staged delivery and shared-use parking further control costs. (Approval conditions can require an Operational Management Plan prior to occupation.)

Approving the HISC is a city-shaping, health-positive decision that unlocks all-weather, inclusive participation for thousands of people each week, activates the Broadmeadow strategy, and does so in the most connected sport precinct in the Hunter. With sensible conditions on transport, flooding, open space and events, this project delivers far more community benefit than the low-utility, flood-prone ovals it replaces—while strengthening Newcastle’s reputation as the Hunter’s indoor-sport hub.

I object strongly to this amended Development Application. The land on which this development is proposed is land that is used by many outdoor sporting groups and also by the neighbouring High School who use it as their outdoor sport fields and this new proposal is planning to remove even more outdoor and open green space than the initial proposal did.
We all know that:
A. young people today spend far too much time indoors and
B. once you remove green space you will never get it back.
I object to this amended DA on behalf of future generations of young people in Newcastle who deserve to have access to outdoor green space for their health and recreation.
This is just the wrong place for this proposed development!

Please show some common sense and move this diabolical proposal to a more sensible location.
Steel River has ample space , Glendale near the athletics track plenty of space for examples.
Both these areas are currently not used for any useful purpose.
Why build on existing green space where , already multiple sports already utilize the fields. Along with the school using the fields for their sports activities, people walk dogs, parents play with their children on these fields.
There are so many better locations for this place to located.
Another major issue is the traffic in that area already is very heavy any time of the week and this is exacerbated on weekends when sports in the area are played