2019-03-12 S&O Agenda - Item 6 - Attachment 1 - Regional Facilities Plan for Difficult to Locate Sports

                 Regional Facilities Plan for Difficult to Locate Sports (including Implementation Priorities) (Final Draft – February 2019)




1.2 PROJECT APPROACH

The project was completed over five stages comprising:
1. Background research including an analysis of demographics, relevant literature including previous planning and
   trends within sport and recreation activities;
2. Consultation/ engagement with key stakeholders;
3. An inventory of existing facilities within the study area;
4. Assessment and analysis of findings including identification of suitable existing facilities for upgrade to regional
   level;
5. Draft and final reports for review by sport stakeholders, general community, the Councils and Sport and
   Recreation.

Figure 1: Project Stages


   Background
     Research,
                              Stakeholder                   Facility                Assessment &                Report & Plan
  Demographics,
                              Engagement                  Assessments                  Analysis                  Completion
   Literature &
      Trends




1.3 STRATEGIC CONTEXT
Planning and provision of facilities for Difficult to               Prior planning undertaken by the individual Councils
Locate Sports (those that are generally noisy or have               focused on local provision and was inconclusive in
other impacts or safety requirements making them                    regard to regional facilities servicing the study area.
hard to locate) is a challenge for local governments and            Similarly, the respective State level sporting bodies are
for the sports themselves, especially in rapidly growing            at different stages in their overall facility planning.
and changing regions. There are often pressures on
existing facilities from urban growth, population                   Some sports such as motor cycling, have had success in
growth and encroaching non-compatible development.                  developing a competitive facility and have continued
These pressures make it difficult to protect existing use           to invest in their capacity to host competition events
sites and to identify new sites for facility development.           at regional or higher levels with uncertain tenure at a
In acknowledging these difficulties, this report’s                  key location.
analysis of options has included consideration of and
recommendations for upgrading appropriate local                     Other sports have developed facilities on available land
facilities to regional level.                                       within their limited club resources or currently rely on
                                                                    participants travelling outside the study area to access
As the main focus of this report is the provision of                regional competition facilities. All of the sports have
regional level facilities, there has been an emphasis               indicated some issues with confirming or developing
on identifying the regional competition needs of the                facilities within the study area for competition in some
subject sports and what needs and options there are                 disciplines. In addition, some sports (such as shooting),
to develop new regional level facilities or enhance the             are already used to a more regionally focused approach
capacity of existing facilities to meet regional standards.         to facility provision and competition planning.

In recognition of the challenges involved in locating,              Sunshine Coast Council (which included Noosa Shire at
developing and managing facilities for difficult to                 the time) has a current Difficult to Locate Sports Strategy
locate sports, the three Councils have agreed on a                  (2009-2028). The analysis and (still to be implemented)
collaborative approach that aims to share the overall               recommendations relevant to regional facilities from
planning and investment priorities for the four specific            the current strategy have been considered in this project.
sports.                                                             GRC investigated the feasibility of the development of



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