At last Monday’s full Council meeting Council endorsed the improvement plan that has been in the making for the whole term of this council.

The link to the full report on  Councils web site has been re-established. It is a comprehensive report that has resulted from the extensive public consultation conducted by Suter Planning and is well worth the read if you have an interest in the plan for either venue.

Suter Planners, and in particular Sue Suter, are to be congratulated in how they conducted this survey and how they have presented their findings.

A summary of the Key Directions, which will go back out for further public consultation, is noted below:


Goodwood Oval

• Undertake improvements to the existing buildings and do not endeavour to establish one building for all sports. There is justification for retaining the oval and tennis buildings. Consolidation of the other buildings could be considered.
• Do not establish a synthetic hockey pitch at the site due to the potential impacts and instead advocate with Hockey SA and the Forestville Hockey Club for a regional facility outside the City of Unley.
• Retain the existing oval and grass playing field for sport and community use and improve lighting of the playing field.
• Retain 12 tennis courts within their existing footprint and undertake improvements as appropriate (e.g. lights, building) in partnership with Tennis SA.
• Enhance the playspace and the north western corner of the site for recreation use and establish some pathway connections.
• Retain trees (particularly larger and significant trees) and enhance the landscape.
• Provide some additional car parks where reduced building footprint through building upgrades allows for this.

Millswood Sporting Complex

• Replace the existing 2 lawn bowls greens with one 10 rink synthetic green and one croquet lawn. Also retain the existing croquet greens.
• Upgrade the main building as a shared-use sports and community facility with a dedicated space for lawn bowls and a shelter area for croquet (this should only occur if the above direction can be achieved).
• Retain the croquet building for day to day use due to its connection to the croquet lawns and the character this building adds to the site.
• Maintain the tennis club as it is (with minor improvements) although assess whether synthetic courts are more appropriate if water costs and maintenance become an issue in the future.
• Support SASMEE to undertake some improvements including establishing a workshop shed and track development where appropriate.
• Create a local park with a local playspace, seating and accessible garden area.
• Create internal viewing areas and spaces for broader community access.
• Increase and modify car parking where appropriate.
• Improve the landscape whilst managing impacts on the greens and lawns. This includes integrating productive landscapes (e.g. fruit and nut trees) within the local park and the site where appropriate.

The next steps

Whilst the improvement plan has been endorsed by Council, we still want your views on it. A staged implementation plan will be developed outlining the approach for further community engagement and detailed design, including funding options, to be presented to Council in early 2015. Details of how we will undertake further engagement will be outlined in this implementation plan.