Final project update:

At the April 2022 Council Meeting, Council resolved that:

Due to significant community opposition and feedback to the proposed Mill Park health and fitness space project, the project be removed from the FY21/22 capital works program, with Council staff to explore alternative nearby locations for a multi-purpose court.

Project update

Council proposed to invest $100,000 to create an intergenerational health and fitness space at Mill Park in Rhodes. The proposal included a multi-use court, seating, public art and native garden beds with trees to provide shade. Community consultation ran from 6 December 2021 to 20 February 2022.

We received over 220 responses from the online survey, emails, calls and in-person feedback during a drop-in session on site. Overall, 73 per cent of the responses received indicated they were against the proposal with the main concerns being increased noise, loss of green space and anti-social behaviour.

Council has listened to the community and officers will now investigate other locations for the health and fitness space. A report on the results of the community consultation and options for alternate locations will be reported to the 19 April Council meeting.

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Project background

We're proposing a new health and fitness space for the whole community to enjoy at Mill Park, Rhodes!

Our aim is to create an intergenerational health and fitness space where all members of the community are welcome. The following elements are currently being considered:

• A smooth surface court with multiple court lines and a multi-goal
• Additional seating for seated play and social gatherings
• Additional trees and landscaping to improve shade and canopy cover
• Public art such as a mural on the court to bring life to the space

A draft concept plan for the space can be found below. We invited residents and visitors to share their insights and ideas to help create this space and community feedback was collected from 6 December 2021 - 20 February 2022.

Feedback is now closed. Thank you to everyone who submitted feedback or shared their ideas for the future of this space.

The design of the new health and fitness space will be driven by best practice design principles with the aim of delivering the below outcomes:

• Clear sightlines for supervision, passive surveillance and safety
• Activation of space including surrounding areas where the most activity occurs
• Quality specification of furniture, equipment and plantings
• Reducing noise nuisance and anti-social behaviour through design specification and planting
• Inclusion of multiple age groups with thoughtful planning, design, procurement and construction.

A thorough site analysis was conducted to inform the development of the draft concept plan. You can view the site analysis, along with relevant Council strategies and case studies of similar successful projects in the Document Library on this page. We have also responded to some frequently asked questions in the FAQs section on this page.

This location was chosen in keeping with the development and implementation of Council's Social Infrastructure (Open Space and Recreation) Strategy and Action Plan (2019) and the revised Rhodes Precinct Plan (2019). The combined findings from these strategies identified that sports such as basketball, being one of Australia's fastest growing sports, and constructing outdoor public court facilities are one of the ways Local Government can support these sports growing in the future.

A community survey used to develop the Rhodes Precinct Plan (2019) identified that there were “not enough basketball courts in the area, particularly Rhodes” (p. 58).

Rhodes has also been identified as one of Sydney’s fastest growing communities, see below graph formed from the City of Canada Bay, Recreation Facilities Strategy - 9th September, 2013.

This has formed our understanding of the need to provide a facility that is intergenerational and encourages people of all ages to get involved in a variety of health and fitness activities.

Images of the site adjacent to existing pathways and fitness stations.