Tamworth could soon be the sporting capital of regional Australia after council acquired two new parcels of land destined to become central sporting fields.
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Council recently purchased a 3.6 hectare property between the bridges at 9-121 Bridge Street, which adjoins the Riverside Sporting Complex, and on Tuesday night voted to purchase a piece of land on Locks Lane three times the size of the existing Plain Street playing fields.
That purchase will see council owning all the land on Locks Lane between Ebsworth Street and Scott Road, which will eventually all be developed into sporting fields.
At Wednesday's State of the City panel general manager Paul Bennett revealed the plans as part of council's Blueprint 100, a strategic plan to drive the city's population to 100,000 by 2041.
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"The land purchases ensures council has the land needed to provide its community with playing fields into the foreseeable future," he said.
"It puts us in the enviable position of being the only city in NSW which has this amount of land in two locations in close proximity to our CBD."
Construction is also underway on the Centre of Sporting Excellence at the Sports Dome, while council recently passed a business plan for a $67 million aquatic centre at the same site, and work is also about to start on the Tamworth Tennis Club upgrades.
Following the purchases council will soon begin to review and update the Sport and Recreation Plan, which will include a staged approach to developing the playing fields.
"The plan will include a timeframe of the medium and long term needs of the community, as well as a funding strategy, which will be part of a range of strategies under the Blueprint 100," Mr Bennett said.
"The developments in north Tamworth will probably be the size of Gunnedah in the future so there will be sporting fields out there, and in Arcadia, and other developments - sporting fields have an important place in our planning."
The land purchases also tick a box in the Flood Mitigation Plan, which has seen council purchasing all available land on the floodplain between the Goonoo Goonoo Creek Bridge and Bridge Street.