PGA Championships - GOLF
• Developing opportunities for inclusion for people
with a disability by providing accessible indoor
sports and recreation facilities
• Securing low-cost CHANGE (Council’s healthy and
active program) project suppliers and locations to
remain affordable to our community.
Our achievements
• Completion of the $16 million Stage 1 of the
Highfields Sports and Recreation Park
• CHANGE Project awarded the Parks and Leisure
Australia (PLA) Award at the national Awards of
Excellence
• Growth in membership at our aquatic, fitness
and recreation facilities in a saturated sport and
recreation market.
Community outcomes
Highfields Sports and Recreation Park
Council’s contribution of $14.5 million coupled
with $1.5 million in funding under the Queensland
Government’s Get Playing Plus has this year seen the
completion of Stage 1 of the Highfields Sports Park.
The facility provides desperately needed facilities
for the Highfields community, as well as providing a
potential venue for state and national events. The
new facility will provide top-class facilities for netball,
rugby union and cricket clubs in the Highfields area.
The construction of the facility included:
• 427,523 loose cubic metres of combined material
shifted during the bulk earthworks stage - the
equivalent of 170 Olympic size swimming pools at
an average of 5,770 loose cubic metres moved on
site per day
• 1.2 kilometres of external roads
• 6,700 square metres of internal roads and car parks
• 610 metres of sewer lines
• 46,000 square metres of turf laid
• 4 kilometres of irrigation pipework installed
• Over 1,000 trees and shrubs planted
• Over 300 hours of consultation with the Highfields
community.
A healthy and active community
This year, the CHANGE Project successfully took out
the top honour at the Parks and Leisure Australia
2015 Awards for Excellence for Inclusive and
Connected Communities, a testament to how the
program leads the way in health and wellbeing
across Australia. The CHANGE Project has helped
deliver almost 100 weekly activities with the support
of local stakeholders and key service providers. The
project encourages residents to achieve healthy
and active lifestyles, not only by running fitness
classes, but also with healthy cooking classes
and educational videos. More than 1,000 residents
each week got active with low-cost or free activities
including group fitness programs, walking and
running groups, mum and bub exercise sessions and
meditation classes. Healthy eating was also high on
the CHANGE Project agenda with almost 300 people
attending Seed to Feed and FOODcents workshops
across the region. This year has also seen assistance
given to the Toowoomba Organic Community Garden
which has raised the membership base from 16 to
70 members.
Sports tourism in the Toowoomba Region has
remained strong this year, with the attraction of
major sporting events including the Hutchinson
Builders Toowoomba International tennis
tournament, the 2016 Coca-Cola Queensland PGA
Championships and Mountain Man Motocross.
These events have cemented Toowoomba as a
must-see destination for national and international
grade sports across Australia and with the increase
in available sport facilities, the calibre of these
events will continue to increase over the next
few years.
Competitive aquatic and recreation centres
Our aquatic and recreation centres have again this
year provided outstanding fitness and health facilities
for our community. Whilst the Toowoomba Region gym
environment continues to grow with new competitors,
the Milne Bay Aquatic and Fitness centre saw an
increase in membership by 14 per cent (685 to 735
members) and an increase of fitness class numbers by
6 per cent. The summer sur