Cockburn Council has approved the $15m redevelopment of Beale Park in Spearwood, one of the City’s major soccer clubroom and playing facilities.
The decision was made at the City of Cockburn’s 13 May Ordinary Council meeting and follows significant community consultation and planning to meet the needs of a growing community and Cockburn City Soccer Club, the facility’s main tenant since 1998.
The decision will enable the delivery of a new centrally located clubroom with six accessible unisex changerooms plus public toilets, seven soccer pitches, new sports floodlighting, and updated carparking.
Other elements of the project will include a spectator viewing and seating area, barbecue area and playground with shade structures, public artwork, the retention of all but six trees and the addition of 35 new trees to the confirmed Black Cockatoo roosting site.
At its May Ordinary Council meeting on 13 May, the Council also approved an $11.45m tender for Shelford Constructions to begin work on the two-stage project.
Construction will begin later this year with completion planned in time for the 2027 soccer season.
The City will fund the project, including $3m from its Developer Contribution Plan, plus a $1m grant from the Department of Local Government, Sport & Cultural Industries Community Sporting and Recreation Facilities Fund.
City of Cockburn Deputy Mayor Chontelle Stone said the redevelopment approval was an exciting time for the City’s growing community where soccer was a popular pastime for people of all ages.
“The population of the surrounding area is expected to grow by 21,000 people by 2036 and to cater for this growth, we are excited to provide increased opportunities to participate in sport and physical activities,” Deputy Mayor Stone said.
“This is especially true for young girls who continue their enthusiastic embrace of soccer in the wake of the Matildas’ success, including here in Cockburn,” Deputy Mayor Stone said.
“We asked our community what it wanted, and apart from vital improvements to the clubrooms, playing fields and carparking, there was strong support to protect a colony of endangered Carnaby’s Black Cockatoos which roost in the park’s tree canopy.
“We achieved this by redesigning plans to save as many trees on site as we could. While we will lose six trees, none of these are used by Black Cockatoo for roosting, and the City will plant another 35 trees, to enhance the park’s status as a habitat corridor for our magnificent cockatoos.”