Council rolls on with new skateparks for MacCabe Park and Thirroul

Despite concerns raised by two community groups, Wollongong Council on Monday night approved the construction of two new skateparks, one in Thirroul and the other near Wollongong’s CBD.

In a report to Council, it was said there were “compelling cases” for the two proposed locations, while “noting there is no perfect site for these projects and that all sites will have some strengths and weaknesses”.

At its latest meeting, some members of the Thirroul Village Committee (TVC) opposed Council’s preferred skatepark location, at WF Jackson Park, just south of the town centre.

TVC members feared a safety risk with the site so close to the busy Lawrence Hargrave Drive, others opposed the loss of valuable green space, the removal of shade trees and a lack of parking and toilet facilities.

One member asked if skateboarding was still as popular today as it was 10 years ago given the recent growth in popularity of e-bikes and e-scooters. It was felt the skatepark was being rushed ahead of a detailed master plan for central Thirroul.

Despite those objections, the vast majority of comments from the public during an extensive consultation process supported the skatepark for WF Jackson Park.

Among the responses, 87%  of the 866 community responses were either neutral or happy to see the park proceed.

Comments included: “it’s a great use of the space”, “we need this so badly”, and “Thirroul has been waiting many years for a skate park”.

It was a similar story for the centrally located MacCabe Park site that was preferred by Council.

Neighbourhood Forum 5 members called on Council to defer any decision until it had completed a master planning exercise for the park next year. NF5 members fear the loss of vital green space in a section of the city that is currently undergoing significant densification. It was felt Council wasn’t giving enough consideration to the future needs of the thousands of additional people moving into the heart of the city in the next 20 years. NF5 felt other sites closer to the beach would have been preferable, but these were never put forward as an option by Council.

Again, the community feedback during the consultation period overwhelmingly supported the MacCabe Park skatepark plan.

Eighty-five percent of respondents were “neutral, happy or very happy” with the skateboard facility in MacCabe Park.

In public submissions supporting the central location, some said the park was currently “underutilised” and “there is really nothing to do in MacCabe Park” and “adding basketball courts would also be great”.

At Monday night’s Council meeting, Cr Richard Martin spoke in support of the proposed Thirroul skatepark. Addressing concerns raised about riders accessing the park, he said: “There’s traffic lights at the library, there’s traffic lights at Coles. There are also people concerned that there were no toilets on the site. Well, 100 metres down at the Coles building there are toilets there.

"I don’t think we can stop the skatepark because of the Thirroul Plaza development. I don’t know how long that will take to get off the ground. So let’s get on and build it.”

Also speaking in support, Cr Dan Hayes said the broad community consultation highlighted “the value and importance of feedback from a broad range of the community, and not just allowing vested interest groups or small groups who are not representing the community to have an over-represented say in our affairs, as in often see in our strategic plans and other items.”

Cr David Brown was more sympathetic to those who’d expressed concern over the location of the MacCabe Park skatepark.

“I have some sympathy for those residents who raise concerns about the reduction of green space. I’ve also got some sympathy for those saying we should be sorting out the MacCabe Park master plan before populating the area with stuff. Having said that, I think the city centre is a good one. This is a classic case of not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.”

Cr Brown did flag that he’d be open to considering a new skatepark site if one could be found quickly.

“I do believe we should stay alive to any other options for sites that might arise, and that we should be agile enough in our thinking, in our processes, to make a pivot to an alternate site should one crop up that is better or just as good as this proposal.

“The MacCabe Park master plan project is in progress for towards the end of this term, and I can’t in good conscience say, let’s delay a decision until then. Mind you, I believe we will get a better outcome for MacCabe Park if we have a cleaner slate to work with, but events are not always in our control.”

Cr Jess Whittaker was adamant that a final decision on the two new skateparks shouldn’t be delayed.

“I don’t agree about keeping our options open. I feel like we need to make a decision and this is where we make a decision,” Cr Whittaker said.

“We’ve done the work on consultation, we’ve got the report. We paid people to make the report. We’ve got the recommendation. Let’s make a decision so staff have a clear direction and we’re moving forward with it. I can’t see where another site would magically appear between now and then.”