A high quality indoor sports centre will bring a range of economic, societal and health benefits to the broader Hunter region. The current plan offers an accessible location and design, which will also add to the broader sports precinct development in the area.

This is a wonderful facility, much needed, and in a great location. It would provide so much benefit to people in the local area and beyond with such a state of the art facility having the potential to attract national or even international events. I am involved in sport at a statewide level and I enthusiastically support this project!

I remain opposed to the stadium and do not believe my initial concerns have been adequately addressed. In fact, they are worsened by the fact that traffic overflow is now fully to surrounding streets, the building is higher (and will reduce nature light to my school and classrooms) and the green space they have offered is actually also supposed to capture flood water. I have therefore reiterated my concerns below.
I am currently a student at Lambton High School and, along with the other 1200 students, use this green space multiple times a week for school PE, sport and wellbeing activities. As we will no longer be able to use these fields, I am worried how that will impact my education, health and wellbeing.
I am concerned about the noise and disruption that will happen during construction, including getting to and from school with construction vehicles and road blockages. In particular, I am worried about the noise that will impact me as I enter my senior years and during my HSC exams.
I will also be impacted as a member of Western Suburb Junior Cricket Club. I don’t think adequate consultation or consideration of the impact of this development on my club or its players has been considered. I don’t understand why one sport would get preference over another. There are already not enough sporting fields to accommodate all the sports in this area. Bringing in 2500 people from other areas at the expense of our local residents (who use these fields to play sport, train, exercise, and undertake other recreational activities) seems inappropriate.

Lambton High School students will suffer greatly with this proposed build. The project is effectively removing all access to green area for students and limiting their ability to play multiple sports in an open air environment ON GRASS!

I remain opposed to the stadium and do not believe my initial concerns have been adequately addressed. In fact, they are worsened by the fact that traffic overflow is now fully to surrounding streets, the building is higher (and will reduce nature light to my school and classrooms) and the green space they have offered is actually also supposed to capture flood water. I have therefore reiterated my concerns below.
I am currently a student at Lambton High School and, along with the other 1200 students, use this green space multiple times a week for school PE, sport and wellbeing activities. I am worried that we will no longer be able to use these fields and how that will impact my health and wellbeing. I am also concerned about the noise and disruption during construction, including my safety walking to and from school with construction vehicles and road blockages. Finally, I am a member of the local soccer club. Loss of these fields will impact where, when and if I will be able to play.

Our children are avid basketball players and the current facility in Broadmeadow is far from adequate. It leaks, is boiling hot in summer (causing heat exhaustion in children), and freezing in winter. Please approve this project and place value on our up and coming players! It will only increase the popularity of the sport.

The current facilities available are falling apart and becoming dangerous. Indoor sports are having to be cancelled because of rain ... because the roof leaks! Basketball in particular is so popular now and our generation of child need facilities that encourage sport and movement in a society of obesity, violence a crime. Give them a safe space to move and enjoy sports again.

I remain opposed to the stadium and do not believe my initial concerns have been adequately addressed. In fact, they are worsened by the fact that traffic overflow is now fully to surrounding streets, the building is higher (and will reduce nature light to my school and classrooms) and the green space they have offered is actually also supposed to capture flood water. I have therefore reiterated my concerns below.
Traffic congestion, parking and pedestrian safety
The development response has failed to address my concerns in this regard and, in fact, the changes will make these concerns worse as they can no longer rely on the Stadium for overflow of parking and have said it can just flow to already busy streets. These streets are narrow, already heavily utilised, and only enable one way traffic when cars are parked (although they are two-way streets). I already have issues parking when I visit friends or attend my kids’ high school near the proposed site. And this becomes impossible when there are any events on at the stadium and/or the international hockey fields. Allowing this development to go ahead will make this a daily struggle for the local community and will significant increase the risk of pedestrian injuries and fatalities.
The response from the Newcastle Basketball Association has failed to also address my original concerns, so I’m repeating these below.
My concern as a local resident is the significant increase of traffic in what is an already very busy location especially during the peak period between 4 and 7pm, due to local traffic, training by other sports around the location and movement of school children. As a local bus driver, I also have concerns about increased traffic and the safety of pedestrians and school children.
This is likely to exacerbate what is already traffic chaos during events at the stadium (Knights and Jets games, concerts etc.), the high school and international hockey fields, causing considerable disruption to local residents. I have experienced this first hand walking local streets before and after these events.
Parking is already difficult in surrounding narrow streets just with cars belonging to residents, businesses and those associated with the local high school. I already have difficulty parking at my friends’ houses in these surrounding streets when there are no events on. This is impossible during events at the stadium with parking stretching to into nearby suburbs, Wests Leagues Club carparks and surrounding streets, which significantly impacts residents and local businesses. I have frequently seen cars parked across people’s driveways, on corners, in no parking areas during these events, which makes it difficult to be on the road during these times and quite unsafe for pedestrians. As a local bus driver, I am also concerned the impact this parking will have on the safe manoeuvring of the bus in these constrained environments. This will only be made worse by adding an additional 2500 capacity stadium with only 250 car spaces allocated. And will be a daily event, rather than 30-40 times a year.
Loss of green space
My children currently play soccer, junior cricket and attend Lambton High School, and utilise these fields daily. The loss of green space is not proposed to be replaced, yet the local surrounding suburbs (Broadmeadow and Adamstown) are poised to have 60,000 new homes in future.
Lambton High School will lose access to its green space that is currently leases from council. This is needed to fulfill their curriculum of sports and to support their health and wellbeing. The response indicates they can use other fields further away from the school, but this will impact teacher-student ratios (as it involves crossing roads) and will also reduce the active time they get. This is the only green space available to the high school and is needed. Students also use this green space for lunch and recreational time, which supports their health and wellbeing. It is also unclear what will happen to the evacuation procedures as this is currently the emergency evacuation point. Alternative locations would require crossing roads, which is not ideal for 1200 students in an emergency.
My children will also lose access to green space for their weekend sport. Both use these fields to play cricket and soccer. Access to sporting fields by these clubs is already difficult. Removing more green space will only add additional pressure and traffic to those already heavily utilised spaces.
The Association’s response also says the construction height will be raised, further reducing the amount of natural light into the school.
Noise and disturbance
I have significant concerns about the noise impacts to my children, who attend the adjacent high school, during construction. This will impact their learning and exams, especially HSC exams. It will also impact their wellbeing, given exposure to extended construction and noise and air pollution over an extended period. I am also concerned about them having to navigate the streets while walking to and from school, with additional construction traffic, road closures etc. while the stadium is being constructed.
Funding shortfall
It is understood there remains a significant funding shortfall, with Government deciding not to further invest. It is unclear where they could possibly source this level of funding without Government funding, which is already operating in a fiscally constrained budget environment. The proposal says that stage 2 is dependent on funding allowances. There is a risk that, if approved, you will allow the removal of valuable green space, in place of only part a stadium and/or corners will be cut to deal with this.
Flooding impacts
The response does not address my previous concerns, so I have repeated them below. The addition of a swale at the front does not have the same volume capacity that the existing fields provide for water retention. It also means that the area they have provided as “green space” is dangerous and inappropriate. Are they really suggesting we utilise a flood retention mechanism as “green space”?
Flooding impact assessment doesn’t adequately consider the flood impacts. For example, the local canal goes from empty to full very quick (I’ve experienced it doing this after just short thunderstorms). Currently the fields provide flood and stormwater retention for considerable time, keeping these floodwaters away from homes and local streets. The report indicates the only mitigation measures proposed are rainwater tanks. There is no way these could store the same amount of water as the existing fields.
The report also says the carpark might flood, so if people are worried, to park in residential streets instead – further adding the to traffic mayhem in local narrow streets that already can’t fit two cars side by side when cars are parked.
Inadequate community engagement
There has no been adequate community engagement. For instance, over 80% of Lambton High School students’ families were opposed to the development, but we have not been consulted with as part of targeted consultation. Likewise, the local residents in surround streets that I know in Duke St, Rex Ave and Durham Rd have not been consulted but will 100% be impacted by parking loss and traffic in their streets.
Inadequate social impact assessment
The SEIA for the project does not sufficiently address the effect that displacing Western Suburbs Junior Cricket Club. It’s one of the fastest growing junior clubs for Newcastle. Losing ground will not only limit current capacity but hinder the ability to grow the sport.
Misclassification of the ground utilisation
The report misclassifies Wallarah and Blackley ovals as underutilised. This is based on flawed analysis from the City of Newcastle’s Sporting Strategy (2020), which measure usage only for winter sports, rather than peak summer usage. Cricket teams use these fields daily during spring and summer, and loss of this green space will add pressure to other facilities, and insufficient replacement grounds (current proposals are inferior in quality and proximity).

While I totally agree that we need a new basketball stadium, I am strongly opposed to it being built
in this location. Among the many concerns are loss of valuable green space for current and future generations. Once the green space is gone it is gone forever. The benefits to health and wellbeing, and ecological benefits of green spaces are well documented.

Flood risk. My Grandmother lived in a nearby street for over 50 years and I am aware of the need for flood mitigation in this area. I am concerned for the increased risk of flooding if the green space is replaced with concrete. The current ovals act as a natural sponge to absorb rainwater during heavy rainfall.

Traffic and parking are already at capacity during peak hours and when there are major sporting events on nearby. Newcastle Basketball have stated that the nearby streets will absorb overflow parking. These streets are already severely impacted when there are sporting and entertainment events on. This area is already at capacity.

The space is currently used by 1200 Lambton High students, cricket and soccer groups as well as local residents. Lambton High currently use this space for PE classes, sport and recreation during breaks. In addition, the newly revised plans include a taller building which will limit natural light to the southern classrooms of Lambton High. With the proposed increase in local population this green space is even more valuable. Please don’t underestimate the value natural parkland on health and wellbeing.

Newcastle Basketball are stating that this facility will be a multipurpose / sport facility, yet they are saying that they will be utilising the facility during all peak times so it is unlikely that other sports will see any real benefit from the facility.
In addition, I have concerns about who will be paying for the stadium. Newcastle Basketball do not have the funds to complete the project.

I have recently been to the existing basketball stadium and agree it needs relocating. This is not the only place that it can be relocated to. Please do some more research and find a more appropriate site.

I think the public have spoken. Apart from some basketball families that are hell bent on the basketball stadium being built in that location, no one wants it there. Please listen to the concerns of the public and find an alternate location.

Newcastle needs this stadium. The existing one is an embarrassment and the location is great.