Lambton High School Parents and Citizens Association (the P&C) remains adamantly opposed to the Hunter Indoor Sports Centre being constructed on the proposed land adjacent to LHS. We stand by our original submission, as attached, and reiterate our objections based on the adverse impact on the LHS community and surrounding residents of the development being approved on the site of Wallarah and Blackley Ovals.

As is publicity noted, of the 658 submissions to the initial proposal, 484 were opposed to the development at this site. It is important to note that most submissions are highly supportive of a new indoor sports facility being built in the Hunter, just not on the identified site.

The issues that directly impact LHS following the response to initial submissions, and the questions that remain, are:

• The footprint of the proposed building has expanded, meaning the initial oval space / green space LHS currently uses is now non-existent. Why further reduce the existing green space given that LHS uses it daily?

• LHS currently pays the City of Newcastle (CoN) to access Wallarah Oval on an annual basis for daily student activity (PE, sport, general recreation during breaks). It also serves as the key evacuation point for staff and students in the case of an emergency. This space will no longer be available. Where can students’ access safe green space? Where can staff and students be safely evacuated to in the event of an emergency?

• The HISC proposed building height has increased from the original design. Why? What impact will this have on the southern classrooms regarding amenity and light?

• Newcastle Basketball states that LHS can access Arthur Edden Oval and Harker Oval. This is 100 percent false. Advice from CoN to LHS states that without doubt AE Oval is a National Premier League (soccer/football) ground with no option to access. Harker Oval is the home base for West Rugby League and West Cricket, and again no option to access. Why do the proponents of HISC continue to make flippant comments that other local spaces can be used?

• Impact during the construction period has been ignored. Construction is proposed over a three-year period from 7am-6pm Monday to Friday. LHS students and staff will be subjected daily to the noise and construction-related environmental impacts (dust, dirt, heavy vehicle and machinery noise). How is this conducive to a supportive learning environment? What hardship considerations/concessions will students undertaking assessments and exams, including the HSC, be given?

The recent amended proposal has raised significant technical issues including moving the development 19.5m to the west, which aligns it to the LHS border. The flood report [Appendix I page 26] indicates this will result in an increase in the baseline velocity of flood water from 0.1-0.2 to 0.3-0.7 in the outdoor covered area at the back of the school.

This can result in flood waters moving 3-7 times faster than before which poses serious risk to students in the event of heavy rainfall. This amount of rushing water may likely do damage to school infrastructure. The building will be almost 17m tall and will stand 6m from the school boundary, meaning the whole back area of the school will be in shade.

This summary skims the surface on how LHS will be impacted, not to mention our local community. Already residents deal with the impact of events at Hunter Stadium and the Hockey Centre almost all 52 weeks each year.

An excellent summary has been circulated by the community group Save Our Local Ovals and concludes the proposed HISC:

“… is unfit for approval. It fails residents, it fails basketball participants, it fails planning principles, and it fails the taxpayer. A project of this scale must be located in a suitable precinct, with sound design, governance, and funding – not imposed on an already congested residential and school-adjacent site with no precedent.”

LHS P&C reiterates the HISC is much needed and would be a welcome asset to the Hunter community. But it’s the right concept in the wrong location. The enduring impact on LHS and the broader local community the HISC development will have is unacceptable, particularly in light of the vast tracts of unutilised land within the Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and Port Stephens Local Government Areas. Development of such size and importance must go ahead in a location that has the overwhelming support of its local community. In the case of the current HISC proposal this undeniably fails that basic test.

As per my previous objection I still strongly object to the location of this project. I support Newcastle Basketball getting a new stadium somewhere but this is not the right location. Key reasons it is not the right location are provided below:
1. Traffic and parking: Traffic in suburban surrounding streets is already a nightmare, when Knights or Jets games are on and when Hockey games are on, especially so when all are being used. Residents driveways already get parked across, drivers get fined every week for parking in illegal locations. It seems non-sensical to add to this traffic nightmare with another huge development.
2. Loss of green space: These ovals are of vital importance to the local community for soccer, cricket, the adjoining high school and the surrounding community. They are part of the green lungs of the area that runs all the way from Lambton village to the stadium. Once green space is lost it cannot be replaced. Green space is also very important due to the increasing density of development in the surrounding suburbs. Please don't take our green space away.
3. Location: While it is recognised that the NSW Government wants to develop for high rise development the current basketball stadium, this does not mean that the community should lose by having green space developed. The new basketball facilities should be located either in the new Hunter Park precinct across the road which contains abundant land for this purpose that is already surfaced or concreted. Or another location such as Glendale etc.
4. Lambton High School: Currently the area is used frequently by the high school students as sporting and breakout / activity areas. Once lost this cannot be replaced.
5. Lack of consultation: The announcement for the site was made without consultation with the community and is seen as a foregone conclusion. This approach is disrespectful to the community and local residents. Hardly any consultation with local residents has still occurred!
6. Flooding: No matter how the experts justify that this project can be located in this location, it seems to make no sense to add further hardstand area to and area which currently is a slow soak when lots of rain occurs, gradually letting the water infiltrate the soil rather than going straight into the main open drains that rise quickly during rain events to the top, and overspill during flooding events. The centre of a floodplain is not an appropriate location for something of the proposed scale. The consultant seems to have focussed on on-site flooding but what about the surrounding residents and drains?
7. Residents: Adjoining residents were not properly consulted and some of the adjoining townhouses will have a monolith erected next to them instead of looking onto greenspace that has and should have always been permanent open green space.

The community consultation from Newcastle Basketball has been terrible. For such a huge scale development there has hardly been any open consultation that is not designed to minimise objections or problems or controversy.

Again - this is not the right location and takes up extremely valuable green space that will be needed as the surrounding areas continue to increase in urban development density.

Please listen to the local community and please reject this gross overdevelopment of an existing public green space that will only add to traffic and flooding woes of the community!

A new sports centre is desperately needed.

This stadium will allow our grandkids and future generations to participate in a variety of sports.
With no other viable locations and a huge demand for this stadium, I hope it is approved.

This is necessary to support healthy and active lifestyles in our community.

We need a new stadium

I remain opposed to the development at this location. I do believe that a new stadium should be built, however, I cannot support the stadium being built in this location.

I do not support for the following reasons:

- Lack of initial consultation and subsequent poor community consultation in determining the site.

- Loss of green space.

- Loss of playing space for other sporting codes

- Loss of amenity for nearby residents

- Loss of evacuation space, playing space, recreation space for Lambton High School. Lambton HS students will be severely impacted by this change.

- Severe flooding impacts, the current ovals act as flood overflow and the 90% concrete replacing will cause flooding impacts on nearby residents in Monash Rd, Gloucester Ave, Duke St, Marina Ave etc.

- Severe parking impacts on nearby residents (Newcastle Basketball’s reports explicitly state that nearby streets can and will absorb traffic overflow).

- Traffic issues on Turton Rd from entry and exit of hundreds of vehicles to and from the stadium.

I also have serious concerns that Newcastle Basketball cannot afford to build the stadium and will be reliant upon further funding sources. This has been detailed well in a Newcastle Herald.

We need a new stadium- the new location is perfect

Really needed