Now that’s a keeper – new western amenities block at Lionel Watts Reserve

We were thrilled to hand over the keys to the Presidents of three sporting clubs last week following the completion of the western amenities block at Lionel Watts Reserve at Belrose.

The refurbishment provides an additional set of change room facilities to cater for the increase of women participating in community sport, giving women and girls equal access to changing facilities and allow men’s and women’s competitions to run concurrently.

The improvements, which are part of the Glen Street Masterplan, includes a beautiful upper level platform for visitors to view the game and cheer on their team as well as additional storage for the sporting clubs, minor refurbishments and upgrades of the existing canteen, amenities and change rooms and additional accessible pathways around the building which facilitates better inclusion and accessibility in playing and watching community sport.

The increased space provided by this upgrade will support the increased number of matches to be able to be played on the synthetic fields (finished in 2019) which can now include evening matches and wet weather competitions.

The new building was a collaboration between Council, the NSW Government, AFL, the Forest AFL Club, the Wakehurst Football Club and the Wakehurst Redbacks Cricket Club.

Council thanks not only the sporting clubs involved, but the whole community for their time and input into the extensive community consultation. The participation, interest and passion of the community has enabled Council to deliver high quality facilities that will be enjoyed by a large number of residents for years to come.

While COVID-19 restrictions prevented a bigger community opening, it was great to have Mayor Michael Regan, Member for Davidson Johnathan O’Dea and representatives of the three clubs who will benefit from this amazing new facility together to mark the occasion.