Newcastle Basketball Association have submitted an amended development application for a stadium to be built on Wallarah and Blackley Ovals. The amendment is supposed to address objections raised in the previous public submissions period, but it is still the same pig, just with a different shade of lipstick.

Here’s a copy of my new submission to the Hunter Indoor Sports Centre exhibition.

I object to the basketball stadium being erected on Wallarah and Blackley ovals.  The proponent’s response to submissions and their amendments does nothing to mitigate the three objections I raised in my previous submission.

1. Loss of green space.  The amended proposal moves the building footprint 19.5 metres to provide a grassed swale. Seriously?! The community loses two whole sporting ovals and get a patch of unusable lawn on a busy road in return! With the Broadmeadow Place Strategy planning to house an additional 40,000 residents, this area will need more sporting fields and open space, not less. It is extremely short-term thinking to remove actively used green space. We need to be making decisions today that are mindful of the impact on future generations.

2. Significant negative impacts on traffic and parking. The amended proposal moves a driveway by 3m. Seriously?! That is a delusional response to the objections of parking and traffic chaos that will occur when multiple sporting events coincide in the Turton Road precinct.

3. Unfairness. Building the stadium in this location is unfair to the current users of the sporting fields.  While the state government makes millions of dollars selling the current stadium site to property developers and basketball association gets a new stadium, mums and dads and kids lose their local sporting fields and have to drive miles to use alternative facilities. If the State Government is to evict Newcastle Basketball from their current location, they should do the honourable thing and provide an alternative location that does not deprive innocent third parties of their amenities.