Please refer to attached PDF for my objection to this project

I object to this development as per the attached document.

The current location is used on a very regular basis by the adjoining school as well as various soccer clubs and other sports groups. It is well set up to cater for large training sessions, is central, and is free for users. The proposed development would eliminate this option for far more young people and people that play sport than those that would benefit from it. The proposed development should be targeted for a brown fields location that will be not take away from an existing facility. The facility should be located further away from the Newcastle CBD to spread the economic and social benefits of a development such as this one.

Anyone in the sporting community can see we need a new facility , the current stadium is on its last leg, and can deliver the needs to the thousands of Newcastle Basketball players, spectators and members.

In our major cities the giving over of publicly accessible green open space for private purposes should only happen as a last resort, and when consideration of all reasonable alternatives has been exhausted. This becomes even more important as our inner cities become subject to all manner of closer-settlement and high-rise residential policies. In such situations green open spaces such as parks, reserves, and playing fields become the only available places for open-air active and passive recreation.
Wallarah and Blackley Ovals aren’t just playing fields: they are places for walking the dog, informal cricket and ball sports, and places that birds graze and small insects and other wildlife inhabit. But they are also playing fields for local sporting teams and the adjacent high school.
It also needs to be noted that the ovals border Lambton Ker-rai Creek, whose drainage capacity will inevitably be diminished by any building footprint and/or hard-surface construction. The prospect of serious flooding of the area will be exacerbated.
Until such time as all conceivable alternative sites in the Lower Hunter have been found to be non-feasible, it is necessary that this development be opposed.

This project will dramatically impact on the local community in a negatice way by removing well-used green space, and by creating congestion with traffic and parking for events. Nearby schools, sports clubbs and the general public use this land for recreational activities. Birds and animals that live in the green space will lose their habitat. The traffic and parking in this area are already disrupted by sporting events at the nearby sports stadium. Another development like this would worsen an already congested area. The area has been known to flood in extreme weather events and the building of this size will worsen this by reducing areas for run off and reduce absoprtion of excess water. Weather events of this nature have been shown to be increasing. I also understand that there is an Aborignal land claim associated with this site that should be respected.

This is typical of NSW state government ignoring the needs of an area other than the holy grail called Sydney.
As a person who frequents the nearby stadium, I say, you need to look at the bigger picture. There are people living metres away. These folk already have to endure the additional foot and road traffic that results from the nearby stadium and hockey ground.
Now the proposal is to build in a known flood prone area, get rid of green space, deny the nearby school use of this space, deny local junior sporting clubs the use of the space, and, totally ignore the wishes of people who live in the area.
The number of parking spaces offered with this development go nowhere near the needs of prospective events, that may very well occur at the same time as the nearby stadium and hockey field.
The state government must consider the implications of this proposed sports centre and how the people in the area, and adjoining suburbs, be affected if it goes ahead. Also, the wilful destruction of green space must be considered a travesty, regardless of what the computer jockeys report.

The location where they intend to put this Sports Centre is absolutely wrong. There is no parking there at the moment even without the football/soccer/hockey/concert/event on across the road. Property in the area will decrease immensely in value. It is used by the local soccer and cricket clubs. It is used by Lambton High school which is adjacent to the proposed venue. There is aways something on at the ovals. It is used in the school holidays for day camps of all different sports. And it FLOODS, where will all the water go if it is one big concrete slab, the adjacent drain will not cope at all, where will the water go? Into the surrounding area which is next to a major road and a residential area. I feel that this proposed development should NOT go ahead in the proposed current location. There are lots of other places where it could go, what about where the current one is, it is a large enough area, what is going to go there??? There is land over at the old Gas works in Clyde Street which has been remediated and is just sitting there. So please we ask that this proposal NOT go ahead and another site that would be more appropriate should be chosen. Hoping that this proposal be declined. Also hoping that the people that make this decision actually visit the proposed site. Thank you.