Background:

On 10 March 2019 the Minister for Recreation Sport and Racing announced the development of the South Australian Sport and Recreation Infrastructure Plan (the Plan).

The Plan will identify the infrastructure needed to support sports participation from the grass roots level through to our elite athletes.

It will also identify infrastructure needs for those members of our community that want to be active through recreational pursuits such as walking and cycling.

We want to develop facilities of the future that fill current gaps, are accessible, and encourage all South Australians to live an active and healthy lifestyle.

The Plan will include wide ranging community engagement, enabling the Government to listen to the community about their priorities and ideas.

The Plan will identify a strategic response to issues related to the provision of infrastructure for sport and recreation to support overall objectives such as increasing levels of participation, improving services, creating jobs and economic growth.

The Plan will also feed into the 20 Year State Infrastructure Strategy https://infrastructure.sa.gov.au/ being developed by Infrastructure SA to assist the South Australian Government to plan, identify and prioritise major infrastructure across the State.

The Plan will have a phased approach.

Phase 1 Current State - Gap and Issues Identification

Consultation:

This phase included wide ranging consultation through a YourSAy community survey. The results have now be analysed and a report summarising this survey is available HERE PDF, 2316.62 KB.

Throughout July and August 2019, staff from the Office for Recreation, Sport and Racing (ORSR) undertook significant statewide consultation. These session were held in conjunction with the ORSR two other major projects; Game On, Getting South Australia moving and the review of our Grant Programs. A summary was produced for attendees of each session, with the final report available HERE PDF, 4598.33 KB

A total of 34 sessions were held across the State engaging over 600 participants including community members, council representatives, sport and recreation bodies and other providers to gain an understanding of the current context, key issues and suggested responses.

Further consultation has been undertaken across government agencies and with relevant stakeholders to determine where there are opportunities for synergies and partnerships to address the key issues raised in the process.

Data Collection:

The current state phase will also identify the current supply of sport and recreation facilities and investigate current participation to analyse gaps and overlaps in facility supply.

As part of this process four data collection methods have been developed to collect the following:

• Current number and type of facilities including sport, recreation and parks and reserves (over 5 hectares) – sent to Councils
• Proposed facilities over $2 million in value – sent to Council and Sport and Recreation Organisations
• Participation data – sent to Sport and Recreation Organisations
• Survey to Sport and Recreation Organisations regarding events and facility capability and capacity

These tools were distributed to Local Councils and State Sport and Recreation Organisations during August 2019 who have been providing information regarding the above. The next part of this will be modelling the data to establish a picture of the current and future need as it relates to provision of sport and recreation infrastructure.

We are still accepting data from Councils and Sport and Recreation Organisation and if you are yet to provide us with your organisations please send any data to SARecSportInfrastructurePlan@sa.gov.au. This process will be ongoing, ensuring that we have appropriate and accurate data readily available for analysis and informed decision making.

Phase 2 Findings and Collaboration:

• Continue to work with sport and recreation organisations and Local Government to refine understanding of current/future facility gaps and issues
• Collaborate with Infrastructure SA to ensure consistency with the States 20 Year Infrastructure Strategy
• Further engagement with State and Local Government stakeholders
• Incorporate recent Statewide Consultation infrastructure findings in to our analysis
• Draft South Australian Sport and Recreation Infrastructure Plan

Phase 3 Public Release and Implementation:

The document will be released shortly.

Contact:

For further information email:

SARecSportInfrastructurePlan@sa.gov.au

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