Council proposes to grant long-term licences for the purpose of community sport and organised recreational activities over the subject community land.

As required under section 47A Local Government Act 1993, Council must publicly notify the community what the subject land will be used for, seek written community feedback and report that feedback to Council for consideration.

Public notification was placed from December 2023 to February 2024 for the granting of long-term sports licences at Waverley Park and Hugh Bamford Reserve.

Eight submissions were received via the Have Your Say page and emails. The community feedback will be reported to Council in May 2024.

The procurement process for the award of the winter long-term licences consists of the following stages:

Stage 1 – Expressions of interest (EOI)

The EOI stage is to establish the experience, capability and capacity of sporting clubs and organisations to successfully run community-based sporting activities, which sporting activities they are going to offer as well as which facilities they wish to utilise and when and how their clubs support the sporting needs of the Waverley community.

Clubs and organisations must address the objectives listed in the Application Guidelines by completing the EOI submission form on this page.

Stage 2 – Request for quotation (RFQ)

Sporting clubs and organisations short-listed in Stage 1 will be requested to submit final documentations via a RFQ process.

Stage 3 – Selection and approval

The submissions will be assessed on their merit against the selection criteria in the Application Guidelines before recommendations are presented to Council to award licences.

Stage 4 – Finalisation of agreement

The successful applicants will then be offered access to the facilities and time slots by entering a three-year licence agreement with a two-year option for extension. There will be an opportunity for clubs to further negotiate the use of facilities and the terms of agreements.

Stage 5 – Review

The partnership will be reviewed annually against key performance indicators to ensure mutually beneficial objectives have been achieved.

Facilities that the winter long-term licences apply to are listed in Table 1. Applicants can apply for one or multiple of these premises.

Table 1 - List of Facilities for Granting Long-term Licence

Waverley Council recognises that public recreation contributes to the health and wellbeing of communities, allows for positive social interactions, and increases physical activity. Council supports informal (passive) and formal (organised) community use of sports facilities.

Waverley Council has a limited supply of sporting facilities and a constant high and often competing demand for their use from many community-based sporting clubs and organisations that operate in Waverley.

The Community Sporting Facilities Long-term Licence process is being undertaken to ensure Council’s limited facilities are equitably and transparently shared among sporting clubs and organisations for the benefit of the Waverley community.

Why is Council proposing to enter long-term licence agreements?

The purpose of issuing licences for Council sporting facilities is to ensure an equitable and consistent approach to their use – with a view to facilitating appropriate asset management, supporting sporting groups to be sustainable, and encouraging maximum utilisation of Council’s sporting fields, courts and indoor sports centres.

For sporting clubs running grass roots community competitions, a long-term licence provides the clubs with assurance that they can host competitive matches over consecutive years building on the clubs participation rates and long-term sustainability as an organisation.

The Community Sporting Facilities Long-Term Licence will align with the express authorised leases and licences activities in the Waverley Park Plan of Management and Williams Park & Hugh Bamford Reserve Plan of Management.

Council must also meet its obligations under the Crown Lands Management Act 2016 (CLM Act) and Local Government Act 1993 (LG Act).

Division 3.4 of the CLM Act requires Council as the Crown land manager to manage the Crown land as if it were community land under the Local Government Act 1993 (LG Act) including functions to the leasing and licencing of the land.

Council grant leases and licences over community land in accordance with Sections 45 to 47D of the LG Act and Part 2, Division 2, Chapter 6 of the LG Act.

The leasing and licensing of Crown land also ensures there is legal and suitable occupation of Crown land. The council, as Crown Land Manager (CLM) is required to ensure all monies received from the use of Crown land is directed to maintaining and sustaining long-term use and enjoyment of the reserves.

The income generated from leasing and licensing is one of the revenue streams council uses for funding the ongoing management and maintenance of reserves. It allows a CLM to cover long-term running costs (at a minimum) and invest of the long term for future generations to use and enjoy the Crown Land in their community.