From the Office of Lord Mayor Councillor Tania Brown
One of the key contributions Council makes to the life of our city is enabling residents to participate in a diverse range of sports and recreational activities. Whether its competing in a local competition, volunteering with a club or representing the region, sport is an integral part of our identity and plays an important role in maintaining our physical and mental wellbeing.
Council has 67 sports fields and venues available for our residents across our city. It’s a challenge to balance equitable access with the community needs, expectations and available land but we’re focussed on achieving this to support participation from grass roots through to the elite level. The wet weather over the last few years has been an added frustration and we also need to think carefully about how we can build greater climate resilience with our sports grounds.
Local sporting clubs and associations manage the day-to-day delivery of services for their respective sports. This may include the coordination of training and competitions, undertaking maintenance of grounds and infrastructure, as well as working with Council to plan facility renewal and upgrades. I’ve recently met with local sport clubs that use Council facilities under license to better understand some of their issues. Many are reporting significant increases in participation levels, from junior and female competitors, which is fantastic, but this demand needs to be managed sustainably and strategically across the LGA. In my view, one option is to better utilise school facilities for local competitions, and we’ll continue to engage with the Department of Education on this possibility.
The annual City of Wollongong Awards provides a wonderful opportunity to acknowledge the people and organisations who make our city a better place. I encourage everyone to think about those in our community who deserve recognition for going above and beyond and consider nominating them for an award. There are 11 award including Citizen of the Year, Senior Citizen of the Year, Young Citizen of the Year and a Diversity and Inclusion Award with nominations closing on 30 November. Please visit the Council website for more details.
