By Tate Papworth
Land at Sunshine College’s Ardeer South campus could be earmarked for a new six to 12 court indoor sports stadium.
Brimbank council will ask the state government for a strategic land use assessment of the Glengala Road site to determine its suitability for a stadium.
It’s part of a council push to bolster the number of indoor sports facilities in the municipality.
The council draft study which looked at existing and future needs for indoor sports has identified a need for more facilities to meet growing demand.
The study also suggest partnering with local schools to maximise available land.
Cr John Hedditch said partnership was a key part of the process.
“This has been a very good process in identifying preferred sites going forward,” he said.
“It also looks, very importantly, at partnering with schools and others.
“At night we drive past schools and we see vacant basketball courts and empty ovals … we’ve got to get better at using what we’ve got.
“We’ve got very little land left in Brimbank now, it’s all been sold by various parts of government and other organisations and it will become an urgent need not too far in the future.”
Basketball, netball, badminton, volleyball, table tennis and futsal are among the most popular indoor sports in Brimbank.
There are currently 39 indoor sports courts across the municipality, which includes seven council-owned and managed courts, 28 in schools, and four privately owned.
The study not only found a future need for additional indoor courts across Brimbank, largely in the southern half of the municipality, but confirmed that many Brimbank residents are forced to travel outside the municipality to access indoor courts.
The draft study is now out for public consultation at www.brimbank.vic.gov.au/ haveyoursay
