Horsham Rural City Council awards $22,000 tender for phase one feasibility study into multi-use indoor stadium

The decision was made on Monday night during a council meeting.

Council director of technical services John Martin recommended to councillors that Insight Leisure Planning be awarded the tender at a cost of $22,000, excluding GST. 

The two-phase study project has a budget of $45,000, of which $30,000 was provided as a grant from Sport and Recreation Victoria.

Cr Sue Exell said it was good to see things finally begin to move.

“It’s been a long time coming. We have had too many holdups in this area and I’m pleased a feasibility study is finally moving to gather up all the information .

“There have been so many reports, so many plans and we’ve just have not been able to get anywhere.

“Hopefully this gets things moving, because I really believe we have let the sporting community down over the last few years.”

Cr Mark Radford quoted from Horsham council’s 2013 sports and recreation strategy.

“Development of an indoor multi-sports complex has not occurred. the result is that some sports are played in very poor facilities and major indoor sports events cannot be hosted,” he said.

“Council has the wherewithal to set the tone for sports and recreation and provide leadership.

“In other words, be pro-active and not reactive.”

Cr Radford used table tennis as an example and quoted from the report where it stated the sport had totally inadequate facilities at the Horsham Showgrounds.

“It says ‘catering for the needs of table tennis is the highest priority for indoor sports’- that was back in 2013,” Cr Radford said.

“I think it is exciting that we are moving to the next step with this feasibility study,” he said.

“It is important that all sporting groups participate so we get the right data so the building is designed for what we need, not just for now but for five to 10 or 20 years.”

Cr Robin Barber said he agreed with Crs Exell and Radford and hoped the tender winner was prepared to talk to the whole community.

“It will certainly be a big job to get all that information and put it all together,” he said.

Cr David Grimble asked for clarification on how much of the $30,000 grant had been used for the first feasibility study, and whether the current budget would be sufficient for the whole project.

Mr Martin said he believed the budget situation was fine.

Cr Gimble said he had seen media comments from table tennis players about the feasibility study and said the council welcomed input from all sporting groups.

Horsham District Table Tennis Association has been campaigning for years to get new facilities.

Table tennis players and visiting competitors have been playing matches at Horsham Showgrounds Maydale Pavillion since 1963.

Players have been forced to share a building with sheep pens and the facilities lack air conditioning.

Association president Jeff Pekin has welcomed a move towards a study into a new multi-use indoor sport stadium.

“The facilities are outdated. We have players with disabilities, from schools, from the special school and we have our competitions,” he said.