It is with excitement that we announce that we have been approved for a $2 million state government grant under the Level The Playing Field program to work with Dapto Phoenix and IFS Wolves to bring Lakelands Oval facilities up to standard.
The proposal involves upgrades to two football fields, associated lighting, and replacement of an old amenities building beyond its useful life with a larger new universal-access facility.
The facility will provide increased participation and use by three clubs: from grass roots to an all-female regional representative club at state level; and be a huge benefit of the wider community.
Current and Future Usage – Lakelands Oval
Lakelands Oval is currently utilised by: Dapto Phoenix; IFS Wolves and Illawarra Stingrays.
These clubs are all relatively small clubs & co-habitation at Lakelands Oval occurs without the pressure of large volumes of teams and without creating traffic and other impact on neighbouring properties.
There are 4 football fields, however only Field 1 (with perimeter fencing, 100 lux lighting & goal posts) is suitable for community league competition. The remaining fields are in poor condition, are undersized & hence are not compliant for even community league competition for Youth Ages (13s & over) & Adults.
The grant will allow Field 1 to meet NPL standards (needed for the Stingrays) and the development of field 2 to full size for all teams as well as local community users.
Grant Details
The development will cost $3 Million.
$1 Million is being contributed by The Illawarra Stingrays, with a further guarantee of $500 000 in the event of unplanned cost overruns. The remaining $2 million is funded under the Level The Playing Field Grant.
This funding mechanism means that the limited local Council sports ground funding resources do not need to be diverted to this project. Rather, a strong long-term asset will be developed in an area of need in the Wollongong LGA at no cost to the local Council or rate payers.
We do however acknowledge and thank Wollongong City Council staff and Councillors, and our local MPs, for their key support to get us to this stage.
The Grant requires completion of the project by September 2026 which will allow the Stingrays to commence the 2027 season at Lakelands as their NPL compliant home ground.
What Is Being Built at Lakelands Oval
The design for Lakelands Oval means Field 1 will remain as is but be extended to meet FIFA regulations and have increased lighting lux. It will also be fully fenced to prevent balls onto Lakeside Drive and to prevent vandalism.
Adjoining Field 1 (in current empty space) will be constructed an amenities building that will include:
- 2 sets of change rooms (For Field 1 and also Field 2)
- a canteen
- referees room
- club room space
- seating areas
The exact layout will be based on construction options but an indicative layout would be:
The biggest ground works will be the extension and flattening out of Field 2 to make it a playable surface. It will accommodate a full sized field and be able to accommodate 2 concurrent GSAP (kids mini field) games.
Impact on Neighbouring Properties
The main possible concerns we addressed in the plans were
a) how lighting would affect the neighbours
b) parking and any additional traffic and
c) safety and usage of existing facilities for all sports and community users.
It was important from the onset that we managed these issues to prevent negative consequences on neighbours. We are confident that the plans achieve this.
Lighting
There is existing lighting in use at the facility. The program involves slight relocation of Field 1 lights and increases their level of lighting. The planners prepared a lighting diagram that showed that there would be no additional impact on Field 1 neighbouring properties.
Field 2 currently only has one light. Under the Plan – it will be fully lit with some lighting also extended to Field 3. The new lighting poles would face inwards and so again the lighting plan shows no impact on neighbouring properties. This however extends the usage of the fields for safe use for winter training.
Parking and Any Additional Traffic
The sizes of each club (and the capped nature of how many teams the Illawarra Stingrays can operate at NPL competition level) means that there will be no large scale increase in parking needs or traffic.
The existing parking area is likely to accommodate the needs for training times.
Dapto Phoenix and IFS Wolves already utilise the fields for midweek training and matches on Saturday and any increased usage will be from planned and reasonable growth in those teams – who will be local kids.
Illawarra Stingrays play matches on Sundays – so this will be the main additional usage of Lakelands Oval from 2027. At any one time only 3 matches occur (but in most cases only 1 match). This means the number of attendees and associated traffic and parking impact on Sundays would be minimal.
Longer term plans do allow for an additional parking area should it be needed as shown in this picture.
Safety and Usage of Existing Facilities
Our key focus is to ensure that the existing childrens play ground was not impacted by the plans. In addition we are mindful of how the additional usage and lighting will make the area safer and less vulnerable to vandalism.
Questions and Information
We welcome the opportunity to address any remaining questions you have.
In addition – we will advise of times when we will have public functions to give you the opportunity to talk to us about the planned development.
Thank You
A large number of people and businesses have got this development to this stage.
Thank you to:
Stantec
Thank you Stantec for the guidance on how to plan a state of the art playing field – that avoids negative impact on neighbouring properties.
Major Sponsors
Thank you to our major sponsors – without whom we could not make these opportunities for local girls and women a reality:
Team and Kit Sponsors
Your contribution is so important to keeping the club in a strong position. Thank you and we look forward to playing on Lakelands in 2027 in kit with your names all over it.