Recreation Needs Study

Council is undertaking a Recreation Needs Study, known as a ‘baseline study’, it will involve an analysis of what the community is currently doing for recreation. In a context of limited resources, and constantly changing levels of community expectation and need, it is important that Council gets a clear picture of the current situation. The study will collect large amounts of data in the form of observations, surveys, research, and interviews which will be used to inform long term planning for services and facilities to support community recreation.

What is recreation?

Recreation includes a broad range of passive and active leisure activities that we participate in for fun, relaxation, health and wellbeing and to connect with our families and communities. Broadly recreation falls into two categories: structured recreation occurs within an organised club, school or program and includes individual and team sports such as soccer, tennis and hockey; and unstructured recreation which are casual activities including walking, a picnic with friends, fitness and social interactions.

What changes have there been in recreation?

In recent years, due to a range of factors, we have seen changes in our recreation activities. Individual activity has increased and resulted in significantly higher participation in unstructured recreation, in contrast we have seen a decline in participation in structured, organised sports. 

The Greater Sydney Outdoor Study 2019(PDF, 1MB) was set up to better understand what Sydneysiders like to do during their recreation time. The results indicated that in the north district (which Ku-ring-gai forms a part), 84% of the population, walk, hike, jog or run. The data also shows that in recent years there has been a: 

  • 36% increase in walking the dog.
  • 28% increase in on road cycling.
  • 24% increase in mountain bike riding.

What are some of the current planning challenges for recreation?

There are a range of challenges that Councils face in recreation planning. These include:

  • Provision of sportsfields for structured sports - meeting increasing demands and expectations whilst having limited space and resources.
  • Playing surface type (synthetic, natural and hybrid) - considering associated impacts, costs and usability.
  • Dog off leash areas - meeting increasing demands with limited land area.
  • Competing demands for the same space - for example sportsfields that are used for dog off-leash, casual use and structured sport.
  • Unstructured recreation - meeting demands of increasing participation with limited programs for capital works.
  • Changes in cultural diversity and community density with associated changes in land use and community need.

The final Ku-ring-gai Open Space and Recreation Needs Study was adopted at the Ordinary Meeting of Council in March 2024. View the Study document and Action and Implementation Plan(PDF, 29MB).

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