WIN Stadium will be even more welcoming when a planned redevelopment is finished – unless you’re trying to find a carpark. Photo: Jen White.
Build it and they will come – but where the bloody hell will they park? Or sleep?
The recent announcement that the sad, broken old WIN Entertainment Centre and adjoining WIN Stadium will finally be redeveloped is fantastic and very welcome news for our region and beyond.
The plan to double the capacity at the renamed WIN Arena, build new grandstands, conference facilities and improve amenities has been welcomed by politicians, business people, sporting groups and community leaders.
The Premier Chris Minns came to town with all three Illawarra MPs and his sports minister to announce $17 million funding to unlock the next stage of planning – designs, reports and a construction tender – to bring the project to life.
He and Sports Minister Steve Kamper have committed to ongoing funding to complete the project, although no timeline has yet been set.
Now that we have that promise in stone we can expect to see some movement.
However, nowhere in the glossy photos or big speeches was that little thing called car parking mentioned – at least not until the media started asking questions.
Wollongong MP and Planning Minister Paul Scully was asked directly if there would be any additional car parking provided.
“No, there’s no additional … there’s no car parking on-site at the moment and there won’t be any car parking in the redevelopment,” he said.
Mr Scully doesn’t believe there is a shortage of parking in the city and pointed to the nearby temporary bus layover which has been transferred to Atchison Street, “freeing up parking”.
“Look, parking in Wollongong is a much debated, age-old thing but the reality is, we get 1000s of people here every Hawks game, we get 1000s of people coming next door to every Dragons game.
“We are going to get more, but people do park and do get in and out of this stadium and this precinct relatively easily. We do need to make continual improvements to public transport in the region, but there isn’t a shortage of parking in the city, but it means that we’re just going to have to manage that.
“But the reality is, in the future, as events grow here and as people come from outside of the area to experience those events, we’re going to increasingly rely on public transport.”
To be fair, Mr Scully did acknowledge that public transport in the city needs attention and referred to the Illawarra strategic regional transport plan which is currently out for comment.
“As the city grows – and we’re going to be one of the fastest growing regions over the next 20 years – we’re going to have to continue to improve our transport services and transport to and from events here will be part of that.”
I’m sure Mr Scully gets out and about in Wollongong far more often than I do, but on the few occasions I attend events at the WEC I practically arrive the day before to ensure I can grab a park within cooee of the centre.
I’m the first to admit I’m not a fan of exercise so I prefer not to make a marathon walk part of my evening’s entertainment, but what about the less mobile among us? The elderly, disabled people and parents with young children, prams and all the paraphernalia they require when attending a Wiggles concert.
Dragons chair and WIN CEO Andrew Lancaster was at the Premier’s announcement and said the enhancements to playing facilities at WIN Stadium will do great things for fans.
“They’ll make the game day experience so much more enjoyable. And our fans should have an expectation that we deliver world-class facilities,” he said.
Couldn’t agree more with Mr Lancaster, but most world-class facilities do include parking.
The Premier and his MPs all pushed the line that the redevelopment is great not just for Wollongong and the Illawarra, but also for residents in south-western Sydney.
And that’s all well and good, but it’s not a good look to promote events and invite visitors to attend if we’re not going to make it easy for them to find nearby parking.
Which leads to the next stumbling block – the city’s lack of motel accommodation. Currently, the city doesn’t have one five-star hotel.
It’s the age-old chicken and egg scenario – to boost tourism in the city we need bigger venues. With bigger venues comes the higher demand for well-placed accommodation. Developers aren’t going to invest in hotels until they are convinced the city is capable of hosting those bigger events. And so it goes.
Wollongong Lord Mayor Tania Brown will spruik Wollongong at every opportunity – as she should – and is vocal about attracting major events, such as the UCI Championships and World Triathlon Finals, as well as promoting Port Kembla to be the state’s next cruise terminal.
But like many other business people, she’s frustrated that the city currently can’t accommodate all those visitors. Instead they are forced to find a bed further afield, meaning Wollongong misses out on valuable tourism dollars.
To its credit, Wollongong Council is working closely with developers to encourage them to invest in hotel accommodation. Cr Brown welcomed the government’s funding commitment to get the redevelopment underway and says it should help convince developers that the city is well and truly open for business.
Now, if we can just find somewhere for them to park …
