A major sporting improvement for Newcastle has been announced today.
The ageing Newcastle Basketball Stadium at Broadmeadow was going to be replaced by a new centre at Hillsborough, but the plans for that were knocked back by planning authorities for multiple reasons.
Today it’s been announced that a new stadium will now be built, subject to approval, opposite McDonald Jones Stadium at Braodmeadow.
$25 million had been previously committed to the Hillsborough plan and now the NSW Government has committed an additional $5 million to the new project.
The new, 12-court stadium will be built on a Crown Land site managed by City of Newcastle and be built in two stages; stage one seeing the construction of up to eight courts, and stage two including a show court for 2,000 spectators.
Independent Lake Macquarie MP Greg Piper, who secured the additional funding commitment from the NSW Government, said the facility will be a major boost for basketball in the region.
“I’m really glad the Government has agreed to this extra funding and I’m hopeful that Labor will match it,” Mr Piper said.
“It’s a shame the stadium couldn’t be built on the originally-intended site in Lake Macquarie, but this still gives us a first-class regional facility which can be accessed by everyone from Morisset to Port Stephens.
Newcastle Basketball President Kristi Faber said the new stadium will be one of the largest in Australia and will serve its massive catchment of Newcastle, Port Stephens and Lake Macquarie.
“This is a great result for Newcastle basketball.
“Because we currently utilise six courts, with only two of these being full size, registrations for all our competitions and programs typically fill within a week. This means we are turning children away literally every week of the year.
“This funding allows elite and amateur basketball to remain in Newcastle, which is the geographical centre of our catchment. The new site on Turton Road has great public transport links, and ample accommodation and hospitality venues to support national tournaments that will now come to Newcastle.”