Canterbury Leagues Club’s plans for a new 80,000sqm National Rugby League (NRL) precinct in Liverpool have been met with resistance from Liverpool City Council.
The proposed half a billion-dollar lifestyle, entertainment and recreational facility, at a strategically chosen location on the outskirts of Liverpool, was rejected by council, which said it “lacked strategic and site-specific merit” and had the potential to undermine planned residential and commercial growth in the city centre.
Not accepting the rejection, Canterbury Leagues Club has now appealed to the New South Wales Planning Department to overturn Liverpool Council’s refusal of a rezoning application for the redevelopment, as it believes that the precinct is a destination in itself and not designed to compete with the Liverpool City Centre.
With the project involving rezoning of the area to allow for significantly increased building heights, Canterbury Leagues Club has engaged a team of consultants to prepare a Planning Proposal. This is to create an amendment to Schedule 1 of the Liverpool Local Environmental Plan 2008, allowing for the 10-building project, providing entertainment and recreation uses not found within the Liverpool City Centre including a 9,300sqm leagues club, state-of-the-art all weather stadium with a seating capacity of 45,000, a community sports centre with indoor and outdoor sporting facilities, new pedestrian links and 150 hotel rooms – while also providing residential and commercial uses.
If approved, the precinct is predicted to bring substantial economic benefit to the local community, injecting $300 million and creating more than 2,000 jobs during construction, with a further 1,000 ongoing jobs on completion.
