Training is about to get a whole lot safer with new floodlights on sportsfields in Barry Curtis Park.
The new lights will illuminate fields five and six at the park, increasing capacity by an additional 10 hours of playing time every week.
Howick Local Board member Garry Boles says the new lights, combined with the already sand carpeted fields at the park, are great news for an area where clubs are crying out for good places to train.
“I am really pleased to see council continuing to invest in this kind of infrastructure. This work complements the investment we have made across the local board area on artificial turf, improved playing surfaces and other facilities.
“We want to make sure our community has opportunities to be active and healthy so it’s important they have access to quality facilities to that,” says Mr Boles, the local board’s parks portfolio lead.
At a cost of around $600,000, the floodlight project is funded from the council’s Barry Curtis Park masterplan capital budget.
One of three Botany subdivision representatives on the local board, Mike Turinsky is thrilled to see some significant investment going into the local area.
“This community is rapidly growing and I am pleased we have been able to bring this project forward. Residents have had to be patient with other projects planned for the areas such as the Ormiston Town Centre and community facilities at Flat Bush so it’s pleasing to see something being done.”
Mr Turinsky is also pleased for the existing clubs that use the ground, which he says have been patient and shown great initiative.
“Last season the Marist Junior Eastern Rugby Club was worried about the health and safety of their kids playing in the dark so they approached me with the idea of getting a temporary lighting structure as an interim solution.”
They already had financial support to do it so the local board gave landowner approval.
“It just goes to show how passionate they are about their kids and their sport.”
About Barry Curtis Park
Barry Curtis Park is a 90-hectare site purchased some 20 years ago by the then Manukau City Council. Over the past 13 years the site has been progressively developed and the northern section, which is used for more passive recreational activities, has proven popular with large numbers visiting the park.
The current focus is to enable sports groups to use the southern end of the park. This is being enabled by the development of toilets, change rooms and sports field lighting, which will be complemented by promenade and road access lighting.
Although Barry Curtis Park serves as a regional facility, one of the key drivers for the establishment of the park was to provide for the 40,000 people predicted to move into the Flat Bush area.
The park has a unique setting where it is connected to the ‘green fingers’ which reach out to Redoubt Road and Ormiston Town Centre which shares the park boundary on the eastern side.
