Q. What is open space?
Open space is an area of land that allows for sporting and recreational activities. In Broken Hill, there are many areas of natural and maintained open spaces. The report considered about 36 areas of publicly accessible open spaces. These areas are a mix of Council owned freehold land and Crown Reserves held in trust by Council for Recreation or similar purposes. (In addition, this assessment includes Twin Lakes Recreation Reserve and Zinc Ovals (owned by Perilya Mines) and Jubilee Oval (owned by the Department of Lands). The plan has not considered natural open spaces.
Q. How much open space is in Broken Hill?
Together, these areas considered in the plan total approximately 81 hectares. The network consists of various types of open space, that include recreational parks (33.2 hectares), sporting parks (45.8 hectares) and specialised sport parks (1.9 hectares). The plan did not include the regeneration area or the Willyama Common although it was recognised that these areas are often used for a variety of recreational activities.
Q. What is the purpose of the Plan Of Management For Open Space?
An open space plan examines the City’s current and future demand for open space, which includes the city’s recreational and sporting areas. Council ‘s objective in commissioning the plan included a desire to:
1. achieve the best outcomes for Council and the Broken Hill community
2. provide higher quality recreational parks and sporting facilities for the community
3. reduce the number of Open Spaces to enable the limited budget to be better used on fewer facilities
4. ensure the long term sustainability of the remaining Open Spaces.
The draft plan makes recommendations in relation the management of Council’s parks and open spaces which, if adopted, would enable Council to manage parks and opens space more efficiently and effectively and better meet community expectations. It will also enable Council to prioritise capital and operational expenditure to better meet community expectations.
Q. What is the background to Broken Hill’s draft plan?
In 2008, Council engaged ROSS Planning to develop a Plan of Management for Open Space (POMFOS) in consultation with the community. The Plan examines Broken Hill’s current and future demand for open space areas and improvements to existing parks and sporting fields, reflecting Council’s vision to have a high quality open space system.
The final plan will provide a reference point for Council to facilitate the ongoing maintenance and development of the open space areas within the city to ensure that the recreational, leisure and sporting needs and expectations of the community continue to be met in an efficient way.
Q. Who is ROSS Planning?
ROSS Planning Pty Ltd is a consultancy firm specialising in recreation, open space and sports planning. Established in July 2003 by Scott Alston, the firm has completed projects for clients in the commercial, local and State Government sectors.
Q. What is a hierarchy of parks?
Various open space types possess differing values, functions and settings. The sustainability of each type of open space is commensurate with the nature and level of impact on their values. Impacts arise from compatible and incompatible uses of respective open space, and/or within open space types. To promote appropriate use of Broken Hill’s open space, a classification framework has been proposed and applied to the existing resource. Public open space in Broken Hill is classified according to its function and hierarchy.
The first level of classification identifies the primary function of the land. The second level of classification is the hierarchy. Hierarchy is used to describe the size and scale of a park, from smaller local parks to major City-wide parks. Understanding park hierarchy helps Council to better allocate resources for development and maintenance in a consistent and equitable way.
The Local Government Act 1993 requires that all public land be classified as “operational” or “community” land. Most Council owned land covered by this Strategy is “community” land.