IT was City of Newcastle staff that decided four extra basketball courts would be built in National Park, CEO Jeremy Bath has said, despite the council being midway through developing a new plan for the 20-hectare reserve.
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The construction of basketball courts in the park's north-western corner was the subject of a public voice meeting on Tuesday night.
A question repeatedly asked by both community speakers and councillors was who within council actually decided to proceed with the project.
Their construction has caused angst among community members who were hoping the area would become parkland.
Members of Friends of National Park, a community group which has previously questioned the process of the courts' installation, spoke on Tuesday about their concerns that the council went ahead with the project despite being part-way through crafting a new draft plan of management (PoM).
Carl Boyd, who actually sued the council for asphalting too much of the park in the 1980s, said since the reserve was gifted to the city in the 1930s it had been "death by a thousand cuts" for open space.
He said his group had been told during a meeting with the lord mayor in January last year that there "wasn't a lot that could be done with National Park" until the new PoM "came in".
Despite this and similar comments from staff, the council built two courts in late 2020 and announced four more would be constructed in July.
"Our complaint isn't with the people who play basketball there, it's the fact that we had public meetings, consultations and these things emerged out of the blue," Mr Boyd said.
Sue Outram, another spokesperson for the group, said there was an "imbalance between informal recreation and the sporting activities" areas in the park which was highlighted in the city's sports strategy.
She said the amenity of an area the council turned into "green, open space" in 2019 was impacted by noise from the adjacent courts, which she believes should have been turned into parkland too.
"We've got the opportunity there for things like Landcare groups, community garden, children's adventure playground," she said.
Ms Outram concluded by asking who decided to build the courts and why the work was carried out when basketball courts were not identified as a priority during consultation about the new PoM.
"It doesn't add up," she said. "We'd like a commitment to ... an open and transparent decision-making process."
Parks and recreation manager Lynn Duffy said about 9750 square-metres of green space had been opened up after the conversion of the Life Without Barriers site, adjacent to the courts, in 2019.
She said the courts were in an area defined as a "sportsground" in the 2012 PoM and their construction had been based off an action in the document which said council could investigate alternative uses if the site was no longer needed for tennis.
Greens councillor John Mackenzie repeatedly asked Ms Duffy who decided to build the courts and why, to which she ultimately said it was a "parks and rec decision" before Council CEO Jeremy Bath intervened, asking Cr Mackenzie "if he was looking for a staff member's name?"
Cr Mackenzie said he was "looking for a process" so he could "give assurance" to the community that participating in consultation was worthwhile.
"This was a decision that was made by staff," Mr Bath said, arguing that given there would be a "12 to 18-month" timeframe for the new PoM to be refined and adopted, the council had acted on the 2012 plan to proceed with the courts.
He said there was a "chronic shortage" of basketball facilities across the city and the initial two in National Park had proved "extremely popular".
Cr Mackenzie said it was not a question of the outcomes, but the process, before the lord mayor interjected.
She said she was surprised there was "not that understanding of what the broader community want" and said tennis courts in Empire Park at Bar Beach had been converted in a similar way "under the existing management plan".
She compared the basketball courts to the Bar Beach skate bowl, saying while it too was opposed by some ratepayers it ultimately proved popular and had even helped produce an Olympian.
"In the interim years, I do not want to see just black asphalt sitting unused," she said, in reference to the area where the basketball courts are being built.
"You can't keep everybody happy all of the time."
Cr John Church (IND) suggested the council might have breached the Local Government Act by installing the courts while the new PoM was being developed, but this could not be confirmed.
He asked Mr Boyd to describe the consultation council had carried out with his group before the courts' were announced, prompting a response of "non-existent".
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