Artificial Sportsfield Surfaces - Overview

Muddy winter sportsfield

Wellington City Council is working to improve sporting facilities by creating artificial sportsfield surfaces. The first of these is the 'third generation' artificial surface on the upper field at Nairnville Park, which was completed in April 2009.

The Long-Term Council Community Plan includes the construction of six additional artificial sportsfield surfaces in the next seven years. On 24 July 2010 the second artificial surface was officially opened in the former Wellington Showgrounds upper car park beside Rugby League Park.

Many Council sportsfields are currently being used more often than is sustainable. Winter is especially a pressure point as grounds are regularly closed during this period causing frustration for sports organisations, players, spectators and volunteers.

A number of factors have contributed to the pressure on the Council's sportsfields:

• more people playing sport, particularly football
• limited flat land available for new sportsfield development
• a high annual rainfall (over 1,200mm annually)
• nearly one-quarter of Council sportsfields are on closed landfills with ongoing subsidence, requiring careful management and monitoring
• many of the sportsfields are on clay-based soil and so have poor drainage
• traditional winter sports are now being played in summer, causing conflict between winter and summer codes over use and providing less time for ground preparation
• the growth of professional sports
• an increase in sporting events
• an increase in training on the fields, which is lowering the quality of the sportsfields for competition (many are used for both training and weekend match play).

More Information

Related Links

• Long-Term Council Community Plan 2009/19
• Sportsgrounds - Locations

Department Details:
Policy