Northbridge Oval extended weekend hours trial

On 23 May 2022, Willoughby City Council resolved to trial extended weekend hours for football games at Northbridge Oval, alongside a community engagement process.

This trial commenced on Saturday, 2 July and finished on Sunday, 28 August 2022 (a period of eight weeks).

The trial was designed to better understand the potential benefits and impacts of this additional sporting activity, to contribute a report to be considered at the September meeting of Council.

The Council would need to seek feedback on proposed amendments to the Council’s Synthetic Sportsground Management Plan (SSMP), and potentially other relevant Council policies, before there are any permanent changes to the usage hours of Northbridge Oval. The SSMP is Council’s overarching plan to manage its four synthetic grounds, including their hours of use.

During the trial period:

• The Northern Suburbs Football Association were able to use Northbridge Oval between 8am-9pm on Saturdays, compared to the current hours of 8am-7pm
• Northbridge Football Club were able to use the oval between 8am-7pm on Sundays, compared to the current hours of 9am-6pm

All other existing hours of use remained unchanged during the trial period. This included the current rest day arrangement on one Sunday in both July and August.

Some important points about the trial are below:

• Submissions were able to be made until Wednesday, 31 August (no more than one submission per person).
• All people who lodge submissions will be notified when the September Council meeting report is made public and will be able to request to address the Council meeting on this issue.
• All comments may be made available or reproduced in Council reports unless specifically requested by the submitter that this is not to occur.
• If any person would like to meet with the Council officers to discuss the trial, please make your request to Angela Casey, Council’s Culture and Leisure Manager at angela.casey@willoughby.nsw.gov.au

Outcome

On the 19th of September 2022 a report on the trial was made to Council a resolution was made at that meeting to refer the outcomes of the trial for consideration to the review of the Synthetic Sportsground Management Plan 2018 and provide a report on the draft plan to Council in October 2022.