Tumut’s new stadium will serve as an evacuation centre in times of need while also providing a valuable indoor recreation space for sporting and community events. Image: Snowy Valleys Council.
When the Dunns Road fire tore through the Snowy Valleys for 50 days during the 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfires, Tumut served as the operational hub for emergency and support services – yet local residents had no evacuation facility to go to.
As the megafire tore through the region, residents from Batlow, Tumbarumba and Adelong were forced to evacuate, with ember attacks also compelling some in Tumut to seek safety.
For many, the nearest refuge was more than 100 kilometres away in Wagga Wagga.
In the aftermath of the fires, the lack of a nearby designated evacuation facility was deemed a critical gap in the region’s emergency response capacity.
That gap is now being addressed, with the Southern Region Planning Panel this week formally approving a new multipurpose and evacuation centre to be built in Richmond Park, Tumut.
The $10.6 million facility – funded by the Federal and NSW governments under the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund (BLERF) – is set to serve dual purposes: as an evacuation hub during emergencies and as a contemporary community space for events, sport and conferences.
The endorsement followed a public meeting held by the panel in early June and has been welcomed by Snowy Valleys Council which has spent five years working towards its realisation.
They are now expected to release the construction tender later this week, with a goal to begin building by spring 2025.
The new facility is expected to provide a much-needed local option during bushfires, storms or other natural disasters, avoiding future mass evacuations to Wagga Wagga or other distant centres.
With an interior the size of two basketball courts, the stadium has been designed to accommodate local, regional and state sporting competitions as well as conferences, local school and community events.
But it has attracted its fair share of community criticism, leading to the formation of the Richmond Park Action Group to oppose its location at Richmond Park, which they considered unsuitable for such a development.
They cited increased traffic congestion, road safety issues, reduced access to green space and potential noise pollution as concerns, as well as site space constraints.
But Snowy Valleys Council maintains the new facility will have sufficient capacity to double as a designated evacuation centre for Tumut and the wider region.
In welcoming this week’s announcement, the council acknowledged the work of the dedicated local working group who helped shape the project and extended its appreciation to the wider community for sharing feedback throughout the planning process.
Snowy Valleys Mayor Julia Ham said the multipurpose and evacuation centre would be a valuable asset for future generations.
She said it would be a welcoming, flexible space that supported a wide range of community needs, while also improving the region’s emergency preparedness.
The council’s infrastructure and works director, Duncan Mitchell, said the team was ready to move forward.
“In the coming weeks, we’ll begin preliminary works,” he said. “That includes relocating the existing playground further up Richmond Park towards Capper Street to prepare the site,” he said.
Council is encouraging residents to stay informed and follow the project’s progress via its dedicated webpage.
