State sports facility funding not enough

The City’s application in the latest round of Community Sport and Recreation Facilities grants included $203,000 for landscaping and flood lighting at Warradale Park and $98,334 for a multipurpose room at Oldham Park.

The City has been granted $178,000 towards facilities at Warradale Park but will receive no funding for Oldham Park.

“While we welcome the allocated funding, there is significant pressure on the City’s financial capacity to deliver the sporting infrastructure required to cater for the needs of both our southern and northern residents in the fastest growing local government in Western Australia,” Mayor Roberts said.

“The City will not seek contributions from the benefiting sporting clubs but will instead fund the $123,334 shortfall itself and deliver both projects in the original timeframe.”

The purpose of the grants is to provide State financial assistance to community groups and local governments to develop basic infrastructure for sport and recreation.

“While the Oldham Park project was eligible for funding through the CSRFF grant, the project was not deemed to be a priority.”

The Department of Sport and Recreation allocates about $20 million through the CSRFF grant annually.

 “Council’s current active reserve master planning process is identifying and confirming the need for upgrades to many existing active reserves as well as the need for development of additional new reserves to meet community demand,” Mayor Roberts said.