The sporting facilities at South Jerrabomberra include fields used for hockey and soccer. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Community sports groups could face off against elite athletes under a proposal from a regional council that could shake up facility access.
At a meeting at the end of 2025, Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council (QPRC) agreed to put two polices covering bookings for sporting grounds on public exhibition.
QPRC owns and manages more than 40 hectares of sporting grounds, according to meeting documents.
The policies suggest that users and groups would need written approval to book facilities, with seasonal applications needing to be submitted by specific dates in September (for summer sports) or February (for winter sports).
The council’s website states that this “formalises” an existing classification system based on users’ competition level (where they are characterised as being elite, competition or community) and puts in maximum usage hours for each category.
Mayor Kenrick Winchester said he was “quite concerned” by the current versions of the policies.
Under the proposed policies, the weighted matrix would see applications evaluated against four categories.
In turn, that score would be based on a consideration of things such as the size of the club (including the number of members who reside in the local government area), their willingness to use non-prime time slots or lower-tier fields, their competition level and the user’s compliance with the policy.
While he supported releasing the documents for public exhibition, Mayor Winchester also suggested organising a workshop and called for more information to be given to councillors before a decision was made.
“[That should occur] before we make any decisions that are going to have a huge impact on our current clubs that particularly use the South Jerrabomberra sports complex.
“The complex out there causes major issues for our staff … that’s with the existing three users, not with a fourth one. It’s already difficult enough.”
In response, Cr John Preston said there were chances for the council to receive feedback through the initial motion.
Cr Katrina Willis failed in her attempt to seek a deferral, saying she also wasn’t satisfied with the policies.
She said there was significant overlap between the two documents and there were elements that should be clarified.
“I think there are things that aren’t explained. There are processes that are not clear to me [about] how access will be fair and equitable if the policy stipulates elite and competition users receive priority over community users.
“It’s not clear to me how some of the categories are determined … There are some fundamental principles that are proposed here that I think the councillors should have an opportunity to discuss.”
Ultimately, Cr Willis was the only councillor to vote against the initial motion to place them on public exhibition.
Meanwhile, the QPRC Sporting Grounds Allocation Policy also notes that any agreements do not extend to upgrades or new facilities that the council acquires.
“The allocation for all new or upgraded capacity will be managed via a transparent expression of interest (EOI) process, which will be formally advertised across all council communication channels, with the assessment criteria reflecting the asset’s new classification and maximum sustainable usage,” it states.
Under the drafts, QPRC will conduct the cleaning or repair work if a facility is damaged, but charge the hirer for those costs and a 10 per cent administration fee.
Both the QPRC Sporting Grounds Usage Policy and the QPRC Sporting Grounds Allocation Policy are on public exhibition until 29 January. People can have their say by visiting YourVoice QPRC.
They will also be sent to a council committee for review.
