The Sports Facilities Strategic Plan was adopted by Council at the 23 June 2022 Ordinary Meeting. See Agenda/Minutes, Item 8.1.

The Canterbury-Bankstown Sports Facilities Strategic Plan supports the aspirations of the Community Strategic Plan to be a City that is Healthy and Active. It provides Council with the overarching strategic direction to guide the provision, maintenance and upgrade of sporting infrastructure across the city. The Plan establishes a hierarchy for each sporting code and identifies the adequacy of the existing sports facilities to meet current and projected future needs. In doing so, the Plan identifies priority projects for each sporting code and will assist Council in its planning for sporting facilities across the city. The document will guide the actions and strategic priorities for sports facilities over the next 10 years.

Following endorsement at the October 2021 Council meeting, the draft version of the Plan was placed on public exhibition from 6 December 2021 to 18 March 2022 to seek further feedback from the community and stakeholders. As part of this process, a number of tools were used to engage with stakeholders including Council’s “Have Your Say” page, Facebook and social media, targeted emails to clubs and associations, face to face meetings with state sporting organisations and two webinars.

Common themes emerging from the submissions was a broad desire to see more facilities open and accessible to the community, and the need for high quality playing surfaces and supporting infrastructure. Most of the submissions were specific to a sporting code or a particular facility, rather than general statements that could be applied across all sports.

Council recognises the important role sport plays in the community and the benefit it provides. Council would like to acknowledge the contributions received and thank the community for their support and engagement with this project.