Recreation Strategy

The feedback from both the survey and the community workshops will inform the decision making around how Council plans and prioritises upgrades, maintenance and management of recreational assets for the next 20 years.

All feedback will be considered with other information from the State Government and industries relating to sports and recreation activity trends, and asset management best practice.

An asset hierarchy is like a filing system for organising information about Council-managed assets such as buildings, equipment, or infrastructure.

Here’s how it works:

Service Level Hierarchy: A level of service is allocated to each facility. The cost of a regional facility is higher however the level of service that it gives is also much more. Getting this balance right is the key to good provision of assets.

Council divides assets into three levels: Regional (big picture), District (servicing towns and surrounds), and Local (neighbourhood sites).

Social

• Recreation facilities and activities encourage social interaction. Recreation facilities and spaces help us form all sorts of clubs and groups that help us engage, connect and participate in common interests.
• Recreation provides opportunities to build social connections and form friendships. Being part of a club or team fosters a sense of belonging and positive role models.
• Recreation provides opportunities for volunteering which further helps create friendships, a sense of belonging, satisfaction and contribution to our communities.

Health

• Preventive Health – If we can stay healthy and active we are less likely to need reactive health care, which means less pressure on our doctors and nurses (and less medical bills for us individually).
• Physical Health – If we participate in regular moderate physical activity, we enjoy many health benefits ranging from simply getting a good nights sleep, to better strength, flexibility and balance, and to reducing risk of life threatening illness such as heart disease and stroke.
• Recovery From Injury and Illness – Recreation facilities often play a vital role in helping people recover from serious injury and illness.
• Mental Health – Recreation facilities provide spaces and reasons to meat as groups or spaces for individual use and reflection. Facilities encourage social interaction, can increase personal confidence and self-awareness, can help reduce feelings of depression and anxiety, and simply improve quality of life.  

Economic

• Many people are employed in recreation based industries. Construction, maintenance and management, and facilitating use and participation.
• Tourism – Good facilities help enable people make the most of the wonderful place we live in. They improve visitor experience, create good memory’s and are very important in people visiting and returning to the Sapphire Coast.
• Events – Recreation facilities are often used for events that attract people to the region. These can range from fishing competitions to music festivals and sporting events and carnivals.
• Improved productivity – Healthy and happy people are more productive in the workplace and are absent less often.

We generally divide our assets in this department into 6 sections.

We generally divide our assets into 6 sections listed below:

1. Sporting Facilities
   25 ovals, 65 courts, 30 buildings, + associated assets
    
2. Playgrounds and Skate Parks
   43 Playgrounds; 9 Skate Parks
    
3. Parkland Reserves
   83 reserves; multiple asset types
    
4. Natural Reserves
   30 reserves; multiple asset types
    
5. Aquatic Facilities
   13 pools & features and associated buildings and assets over 7 sites
    
6. Marine Recreation Facilities
   22 boat ramps and associated assets over 10 sites; water access structures and platforms.