Kensington Gardens Reserve Sporting Clubs Strategic Planning Committee
Attachment to Council letter 22nd June 2016
The Hub strategy – the Clubs’ perspective
The City of Burnside Hub Precinct Strategy from the Burnside Council website defines a Hub as:
" a single multipurpose facility that accommodates a variety of services, programs and activities OR can include a group of separate buildings that, although physically separate, cluster together to create an activity centre and access point for meeting a diverse range of community needs"
This definition summarises the situation currently at KGR. The Clubs are diverse, they do not cut across each other physically, they cater for different sporting sections of the community, they blend in to the sensitive environment, they offer facilities that are utilised by the community through schools, health active groups, local companies,other sporting clubs and community groups. These groups share traffic logistics as best as possible when you consider the volume of the community that accesses the Reserve at all times throughout the year.
The Hub Precinct Strategy identifies four objectives of Hubs. We have discussed in detail below each objective and the factors which highlight the Clubs’ fulfilment of the objectives in the current format.
Objective - Service coordination and delivery
Accommodating multiple social and community organisations in one physical space, thereby enhancing co-ordination of, and access to, services.
We consider the Clubs in their current format effortlessly fulfil this objective. The KGR is one of the largest reserves in the Adelaide area, it is unique, it has enormous history and heritage. The cluster of buildings that make up the KGR have been there for up to 97 years and have stood the test of time and satisfied the community needs. This is supported by the results of the Master Plan Survey (“Survey”) where only 8 people considered the centralised Hub concept a good idea. 58 people were extremely strong in their disapproval of the centralised Hub concept.
The Clubs hold, collectively and individually, significant positions in not just the local, but the wider South Australian (“SA”) sporting club community.
The Burnside Rugby club is the largest Rugby Union club in SA. The Kensington District Cricket Club is the number one ranked club in SA as well as Australia, recently being ranked by the Australian Cricket Board as topping the 187 District clubs Australia-wide. The Lawn Tennis club hosted the prestigious International Asia Pacific Tennis championships last year and has the most grass tennis courts in SA.The Hardcourt Tennis Club is one of the most successful and respected tennis clubs in SA.The Kensington Marryatville Bowling Club has 12 teams compete from their home base at these premises with the A grade women being top in SA.
Kensington Gardens Reserve is designated as a Local Heritage Place (Certificate of title 5816/159) as the Reserve meets the following criteria:
• a- it displays historical, economic or social themes that are important to the area.
• c- it has played an important part on the lives of local residents.
• e- it is associated with a notable personality or event.
• f- it is notable landmark in the area.
The nature of the Clubs of the Kensington Gardens Reserve satisfy the local heritage listing criteria to ensure the obligation is met.
All of the Clubs, in broad terms, have been part of the history and heritage of the area as the community has grown up around the Reserve. The number of events held at the reserve and in the Clubs is very significant. Of key historical significance, the world's most famous cricketer, Sir Donald Bradman, called the Kensington District Cricket Club his cricketing home plus the Returned Services League have an important memorial in the reserve.
As noted above, the Burnside Rugby Club is the largest Rugby Union club in SA, the Kensington District Cricket Club is the number one ranked cricket club in SA, as well as being the number one ranked club in Australia (out of 187 clubs), the bowls club is rated number one in SA, the Lawn Tennis club is internationally known and respected and the Hardcourt Tennis club needs a bigger clubroom to showcase all of their trophies such is their success.
All clubrooms proudly display the club's history and achievements with honour boards, premiership photos, memorabilia capturing major events in each Club’s history, the cricket club has a special dedicated Bradman area. A walk through each of the clubrooms is a walk through history, it displays the heritage of the clubs and their shared role in the Kensington Gardens Reserve. This is all possible in the current facilities but definitely not in a shared facility.
Objective - Place Making
Use of urban design to enhance physical quality and appearance of public places in order to reinforce a ‘place' identity whilst integrating a range of facilities and uses.
As noted in the Survey, the results clearly demonstrate that what is presently provided at the KGR is enormously successful. There are three distinct areas of sporting activity that work seamlessly together and with the building fabric regarded as structurally sound until at least 2030.
Key issues are toilet facilities for the disabled, asbestos management and general fine tuning, all areas that can be upgraded at minimal cost to the Clubs and/or Council.
KGR is already an identifiable place, it is a place that is known world wide through the association of the world’s greatest cricketer, Sir Donald Bradman with the Kensington District Cricket Club.
All Clubs agree that their facilities could do with some fine tuning but as in the past, the Clubs will continue to upgrade their assets, the Council assets, for the benefit of the Clubs and the community. All Clubs have the long term vision to work with the Council to continually fine tune and achieve these results in a measured and timely approach.
The current structures are in a good state of repair, the Council assets register shows what is required for maintenance and with long term leases in place it gives confidence to the community, the Clubs and the Council that these undertakings will be completed to the satisfaction of everyone.
The draft Master Plan didn’t take in to account the fact that each club is dedicated to upgrading and renovating both the appearance and functionality of their clubrooms. The council assets are being upgraded, they are being improved at no or little expense to the Council. Indeed, over their lifetime, the Clubs have been able to attract Federal and State Government funding for facility upgrades.
The Burnside Rugby Club has been at KGR for 70 years, the Kensington Gardens Bowls and Lawn Tennis Club started in 1919 and was joined by Hardcourt tennis in 1930.
Kensington District Cricket Club,which was formed in 1872 , has been at the Reserve since 1964, when they were relocated from Kensington Oval when it became Olympic Sports Field (down The Parade about 1km, now as part of the Pembroke School sporting facilities), as part of an agreement with the Council for a "life time" lease of the current facility.
Each club has been part of the history, the heritage and the culture of the community and they are integral to the Kensington Gardens Reserve.
Unlike the situation at Glenunga, it is not possible by virtue of the size of the KGR to locate a centralised Hub that would be convenient for all users of the Reserve.
The KG Reserve is more than 4 times the area of Glenunga, which has two ovals that can be conveniently served by a building located between them. However at the KGR the size and scale of the facility simply do not allow this to happen.The playing grounds used by rugby, cricket, lawn tennis, hard court tennis and bowls clubs are physically separated by some distance from each other, as are the existing clubrooms. The existing clubrooms have been built in the most convenient and appropriate locations to meet the needs of the community using the respective sporting grounds.
The Historic Conservation Policy describes the Reserve as having a "distinctly Australian character of the Kensington Gardens Reserve with informal areas of natural vegetation, groupings of mature eucalypts and the creek line, as well as more formally sited sporting facilities scattered throughout". The Clubs consider the natural environment an attractive addition to their facilities. We consider future development can be balanced with historic character through complimentary and sustainable development practices.
The KGR is a place of history and heritage for the wider community, who share the use of the Reserve throughout the year and the sporting clubs are integral to this history and heritage.
Enhancing connections between people in order to strengthen common values and promote collective goals.
All sporting clubs currently offer their clubhouses to the general public every day. The Clubs are made up of members of the community who participate in their chosen sports and social groups with a collective emphasis on looking after the Reserve and the facilities it offers.
The general public is always welcome to be part of the club and the facilities are continually being used by all elements of the community on a hire or free to use basis. With the spread of facilities that are currently on offer for the community to utilise, there is a wide choice and variety to suit all client’s needs.
The Clubs are the heart, soul and heritage of the KGR and through their contact with the community they ensure the utilisation of most of the parts of the Reserve to make it the special place that it is.
We consider that the reason that the notion of a café rated poorly in the Survey, (only 2/256 respondents referred to a café), is that the clubs already cater for this demand. Indeed, during the summer months there are also food, ice cream and coffee vans that position themselves in and around the Reserve to satisfy these requirements.
All Clubs are members of the Good Sports community programs. The Good Sports program is an award winning program that has grown into the biggest health initiative in Australian sport. It aims to tackle the key health issues of alcohol, smoking, obesity and mental health.
Objective - Financial sustainability
Provision of quality services and facilities in a way that is economically viable over a number of years.
KGR is specifically identified in the Strategy, noting the fact that it is the largest recreational reserve in the city and flagging that there is "opportunity to review existing facilities (both building and open space) with a view to providing high quality facilities and services for sporting groups and community users of the Reserve"
All Clubs are financially viable and sound and are not reliant on funding from Council, State or Federal Governments.
There are opportunities to increase the revenues of the Clubs by expanding the third party use of the facilities. The Clubs have made it known in the community that this opportunity is always on offer for community groups, companies and private functions.
Financial sustainability has been gained by security of revenues with control over sponsorship, bar takings, social functions and fundraising. Continuation of the viability of the Clubs is only possible in the current scenario. Sponsorship for each of the Clubs would be significantly compromised in a shared facility where sponsor visibility is limited to smaller windows. Such a loss in revenue would decimate some Clubs. It is further feared that, if this resulted in the loss of certain clubs, the remaining clubs may not produce enough economic activity on their own for the whole to remain viable.
We have completed our own extensive research as this affects all of the community encompassing the Clubs, the business community, Council and the general public.
Overview of the Clubs
All stakeholders of the Reserve including the Clubs, Kensington Gardens Preschool, the Returned Services League, Pembroke School and the Pepper Street Quilters and Rotunda Stitchers, are part of the history and heritage of one of Adelaide's largest and most unique reserves. Indeed we consider that the five sporting clubs are an integral part of this history and heritage.
The Clubs have over 1,250 financial members with individual membership as follows:
•Burnside Rugby Club - 350 financial members;
•East Torrens Kensington Gardens Hardcourt Tennis Club - 180 financial members;
•Kensington District Cricket Club - 300 financial members;
•Kensington Gardens Lawn Tennis Club – 220 financial members
•Kensington Marryatville Bowling Club - 200 financial members.
Notably, these are financial members and do not reflect actual usage. For example in winter, on a Thursday night at the rugby club, a junior member will be accompanied by a parent and/or siblings particularly as the club provides a barbeque, meaning over 400 people are at the clubrooms. During summer,the Kensington District Cricket Club runs Kanga Cricket as part of the South Australian Cricket Association’s (SACA) junior development program. Well over 300 people attend these Saturday morning programs with both Ford and Parkinson Ovals overflowing. On Sunday's, the SACA "Milo have a go" cricket program is in action and on Wednesday afternoons we have the SACA "Big Bash" program for kids. Tennis has lots of extra programs which they conduct to non members as well as through junior development and the Bowls club runs open days for potential new members and corporate events.
Over 1000 people utilise the bowls and lawn tennis clubhouse every week. The venue is open every day and with the new all-weather playing greens, patronage will increase. The hardcourt tennis courts are also used every day of the year. Kensington District Cricket Club has over 300 people attend player presentations in their clubhouse each weekend and the Burnside Rugby Club can have over 1000 people attend the club during the course of the day when hosting one of their major rugby days when all the grades are playing at home. Generations of families have grown up with the Clubs playing a significant role in their lives. In addition to what these people give to the Clubs, the Clubs provide these people with knowledge, expertise, friendship energy and passion.
Each of the Clubs have committee members with wide and varied skill sets enabling good governance and guidance. The Reserve is recognised as the home for the Clubs. All of the Clubs are financially viable and the Clubs recognise that this has been achieved through having a clear focus and vision supported by hard work, volunteer energy and team work.
General comments
We have reviewed the results of the two Survey's which commenced in late 2015 and ran until January 2016. We understand that Council received responses from 256 people and 140 people in these surveys and that included in this 120 were online.
The key theme identified in both surveys was the strong lack of support for the centralised Hub concept.
From the online survey
-8 of the 120 responses thought it was a good idea
-58 of the 120 responses (which excluded the Clubs), strongly disliked the Master Plan concept of the centralised Hub.
-All 5 sporting clubs were totally against the Centralised Hub concept
Major reasons given were
-associated costs
-impact on the amenity of the reserve
-impact on local residents
-location and orientation
-capacity to service the precise needs of each sport
-retaining identity and autonomy
-how the clubs would co-exist in a shared facility and the problems this may present
-ongoing operations/management of individual sports clubs
-and more information is required.
Other areas of concern were:
- Parking areas
-Walking paths
-Environmental enhancements throughout the reserve
-More fitness options
The Clubs have been asking over the entire consultation period for examples of best practice for a centralised Hub concept. We have been asking for our thoughts to be taken in to account but examples have not been forthcoming and we consider our inputs have been virtually ignored.
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