During the 2016 federal election campaign then local MP Russell Matheson brought out senior government minister Julie Bishop to announce almost $8 million in funding towards a Campbelltown sport centre of excellence.
I remember the media scrum well from that day, as Bishop, her entourage, Matheson, Campbelltown’s Liberal mayor Paul Hawker and others led the way to the site of the proposed centre on Western Sydney University land.
We were shown initial designs and went away and wrote our glowing stories of a marvellous new facility for Campbelltown.
Almost six years later, and all we’ve had is politicians posing with shiny new shovels for the cliched turning of the first sod and at least two more design plans.
There have also been at least two completion dates provided over the years.
In the past three years, any enquiries to council or the former mayor were batted away with “all is going good, it’s on track, etc’’.
The South West Voice also enquired with most councillors – including the current mayor George Greiss – and state and federal MPs during that period of secrecy, and they all responded with: “we are not being told anything about this project’’.
So, when last week the council, under new management and with once again a Liberal mayor at the helm, issued a media release announcing that it was exploring the potential of locating the centre of excellence at Campbelltown Stadium, there were two reactions.
One was, well, finally, they have lifted the veil a little bit on this project and we can kind of see what’s underneath.
The credit goes to Mayor George Greiss, who has promised open government on Campbelltown Council, and more specifically, some well overdue accountability and transparency.
The second reaction was a lot of head scratching from some of the stakeholders, about how it would work at the Campbelltown Stadium, given the limitations of the site.
This is what council announced in the media release:
“The Campbelltown Sports Stadium is currently being considered as a potential site of the Campbelltown Sports and Health Centre of Excellence following the availability of a funding opportunity.
“Macarthur Heights had been identified as the location of the centre since it was first considered in 2016 and jointly funded by the Australian Government, Western Sydney University and Council to the value of $23.6 million.
“The project has been placed on hold while Council explores potentially relocating the centre to the stadium to attract more funding and deliver a comprehensive elite sports facility that would meet the elite training needs of the sporting community now and in the future.
“Consideration will also be given to how it aligns with the current commitments and needs of the project partners.
“The development of new sports fields at the Macarthur Heights site will continue to be delivered in accordance with a Voluntary Planning Agreement with Landcom.
“It is anticipated that the outcome of the funding opportunity will be known by April and a report of all options will be presented to Council for its consideration soon after.’’
The South West Voice emailed this set of questions to council:
Has the original plan for a centre of sport excellence and medical research at WSU (Macarthur Heights) been permanently abandoned?
If yes, why?
What is/was the reason for the delays in getting the project off the ground since 2016?
Is the original funding from the federal govt still available for this project, wherever it is located?
Is the funding opportunity with the State Government and can you disclose a ballpark figure of the funding?
Is the funding opportunity part of bigger plans to upgrade the stadium itself?
In the original plans, the South West Sydney Academy of Sport was to be provided with access to facilities for its programs at the centre at Macarthur Heights; this was also abandoned, so will the academy be accommodated in any centre built at the stadium precinct?
For some period, Macarthur FC were to be the main tenants at Macarthur Heights, but it’s believed they’re out of the picture and building their own centre at Camden. Will there be a provision for a major tenant and is there something like a MoU with any sporting organisation?
Will a centre at the stadium cost the ratepayers more money than the present estimated contribution?
We publish the council response in full below and we will let readers be the judge if they fully answered our questions.
“Council is seeking a unique state funding opportunity which would further enhance the potential of the Centre of Excellence as a comprehensive elite sporting and health facility for the community,’’ a council spokesperson said.
“Existing plans and funding commitments for the current site are still in place and would provide the community with a high quality facility that brings together a range of sport, health and educational opportunities.
“All our existing project partners are being consulted and we will continue to work with them to ensure the potential facility would meet their needs.
“Access for the community and relevant sporting groups, such as academies and associations that support elite pathways will be a key part of our ongoing considerations as we progress the proposal and consideration would be given to how the potential new facility can complement and enhance the existing Stadium and Athletics Centre.’’
Still in the planning stages! We can only hope that definite plans can be put in place sooner rather than later. With so much land available at the University it seems strange that consideration is given to siting it in a suburb. Parking is always a problem. I would like to see the plans for Leumeah, including parking and traffic measures.
It does seem a shame to put all our eggs in one basket and only have the one sports facility at Leumeah where parking is already a problem it would be far better to keep the two centres separately so that roads and public transport does not become over crowded in areas where traffic is already backing up from just weight of numbers and is this yet another land grab by a developer hoping to replace some of the proposed area for housing,