Camden Cricket Club has been hit for six. The popular sport organisation will soon have a new home with Camden councillors approving the masterplan for a new cricket centre of excellence at Fergusons Lane Land on Tuesday.
The masterplan for the multimillion-dollar cricket facility includes three premier cricket ovals (two with turf pitches), picket fencing, flood lighting, an amenities building and 140 car parking spaces and will be on Fergusons Land, on the outskirts of Camden.
Camden mayor Theresa Fedeli said the facility would put Camden on the map as a sporting destination. "This is an exciting project that will add to the council's premier sporting facilities following the opening of Narellan Sports Hub in 2019 and future facilities including a synthetic football field at Nott Oval in Narellan," Cr Fedeli said. "Council supports an active and healthy lifestyle in our community and building facilities like this also meets the needs of our growing community." A Camden Cricket Club spokesman said the club were very pleased with the masterplan for the site. "There is a fundamental shortage of facilities in Camden which has led to a lot of local teams hosting games outside the area," he said.
"The new facility will allow the club to continue to grow. "The sport has seen unprecedented growth over the past 5 years particularly due to the number of girls taking up the sport." However not everyone was pleased with the announcement. Neighbouring property owner Marissa Bishop raised concerns about the impact of the development on her livestock.
"I would ask the council to include a 15 metre buffer zone with landscape designed to provide some screening from the light and noise that will be created," she said. Cr Paul Farrow also raised concerns about the cost of the project given Cricket NSW's withdrawal of support. "Originally this was supposed to be a partnership between the council, Cricket NSW, the state and federal government but this hasn't turned into the partnership we had hoped for," he said. "Now [that Cricket NSW] isn't involved I am concerned about the ongoing cost for council given the nature of the land this site will be built on."
The project will be built in a staged process, with stage one expected to be completed by mid-2021. Stage one will include one premium cricket field with turf pitches and picket fencing, an amenities block and canteen, 70 carparking spaces, training nets with turf pitches and more. Stage one of the project will cost $8.35 million with funding from the Western Parkland City Liveability Program, Metropolitan Greenspace Program and the council's draft Delivery Program 2019/20-2022/23.