At the time that the netball courts were first proposed in 2006/2007, the courts were designed undersized and east-west orientation because they were intended to be practice courts only, as opposed to competition courts. Mosman Netball accepted this because, at the same time, Mosman Council promised to locate a site and plan for the installation of competition standard courts, providing a better and more permanent solution for the growing netball club.
Until very recently, Mosman Council had not made any attempt to provide better facilities or a clubhouse for netball. The improvement in facilities for rugby and cricket, in particular, in Mosman over the same period has been significant.
With the NSW government grant for lights, Mosman Council recognised an opportunity to address their inaction. Cross Street residents are few in number and Mosman Council has sought to consistently downplay the concerns of Cross Street residents, position Cross Street residents as opposed to women’s sport and to rally support for the lighting proposal.
Cross Street residents are supportive of Mosman Netball and women’s participation in sport but, while the lights will enhance the courts, they will not turn the undersized practice courts into a quality netball facility. The proposal is another stop-gap measure at Cross Street’s expense.
EXISTING 25-YEAR LEASE BALANCES INTERESTS OF TRUST, MILITARY HERITAGE, COUNCIL, RESIDENTS AND MOSMAN NETBALL
The Cross Street netball facilities provide significant community benefit and, as part of their development, the facility lease was drawn up to specifically preserve Cross Street residents’ amenity and concerns about the increased usage, traffic and noise by incorporating prohibitions on lighting and extended use:
Lease Special Condition 2: “The Lessee must not install or use any outdoor lighting for netball courts at any time.”
Lease condition 8(d) restricts use of the courts to daylight hours only and 9(m) goes on to restrict landscape and carpark lighting to being “low level”.
In relation to parking and traffic, the Lease specifies that the Trust may require the Lessee to comply with any conditions to “… ensure the traffic and parking generation to the Land does not adversely affect the amenity of the neighbourhood.”
PARKING IS INADEQUATE, TRAFFIC IS EXCESSIVE AND, AT TIMES, DANGEROUS
The community facilities have grown by degrees and definitely not by design. The entrance to the many facilities:
Cricket and rugby oval;
Grandstand and rugby club;
Drill hall community facility, including before and after school and school holiday care;
Outdoor netball courts;
Marie Bashir indoor netball/basketball/hockey/soccer sports centre;
Off-leash dog park;
Licensed fitness training areas;
Georges Heights sporting facilities;
Biking paths used by adults and many children; and
Walking paths, particularly for residents of the Glengarry aged and dementia care facility;
requires pedestrians to cross at least one of the two entrances to busy carparks that are not designated pedestrian crossings. This unfortunate design is a product of a sparsely-utilised area growing to become a major community facility without adequate planning or design as to the implications of increasing traffic and usage. The inadequate parking and poor design cannot be easily rectified and the safety issues will be exacerbated by increasing the day to day usage of the area. Mosman Council’s traffic study forecasts that traffic will more than double if the netball courts are lit and usage expanded - between 6.00pm and 8.30pm vehicles per hour are expected to increase from 79 vehicles per hour to 163 vehicles per hour.
BREACH OF TRUST – MANAGEMENT PLAN TO PRESERVE THE ENVIRONMENT AND BUSHLAND
Lighting the outdoor netball courts increases the visual impact of the courts enormously, particularly from the harbour, and will have a significant impact on the surrounding area through additional light, noise and traffic pollution.
One of the overriding considerations in the use of the Trust lands is to maintain the bushland character of the Headland Park. In designating land for sporting facilities, the Trust is required to have consideration to their integration into the landscape and specifically, facilities are required to have:
minimal visual impact; and
minimal impact on adjacent areas and local amenity.
The current Management Plan is predicated on the assumption that light pollution will not be increased because: “As the proposed outdoor sports courts are not to be lit at night these will not result in any increase in light levels.”
The Trust website states generally about this area:
The terrain and its relationship to the harbour is the first and most fundamental consideration for all of these elements. It is the terrain that has given rise to the historic uses and it is its relationship to the harbour that makes these lands special.
Avoidance of any adverse impacts on this harbour landscape is a particularly important objective of the design approach for this site. The natural setting of the site is to be protected and enhanced, and any new building must be designed to minimise its intrusion on the landscape.
Cross Street residents contend that agreeing to the proposed lighting of the courts, which will necessarily increase light, traffic and noise pollution in the area, constitutes a breach of the expressed aims of the Trust.