The proposal for a new $25 million basketball stadium in Lake Macquarie has moved to Glendale.
The Hunter and Central Coast Regional Planning Panel has refused a plan for a site at Hillsborough which attracted opposition from residents.
State Member for Charlestown Jodie Harrison said key issues the Panel looked at included traffic, transport, access, and potential impacts on the amenity of the surrounding residential area. It also took into account ecological and bushfire consideration.
The panel said the proposal wasn’t “in the public interest” and “the site is not suitable for the scale and intensity of the development proposed”.
Newcastle Basketball General Manager, Neil Goffet, said plans were well underway with the alternative Glendale site and he expects to have a development application lodged in the coming months.
“We had to follow the process and while it is frustrating and time consuming these processes need to be followed,” Neil Goffet said.
“We have been working with all the relevant state government organisations and Lake Macquarie City Council on the site at Glendale since the start of the year and it looks very promising,”
“The problem with a project of this size is it will not work on the current site at Broadmeadow, and we don’t fit into plans for the redevelopment of Hunter Stadium so finding community land that can accommodate a facility of this magnitude is extremely difficult.”