CRICKET WELLINGTON FACILITIES STRATEGY MAY 2018 PAGE 1 CRICKET WELLINGTON | FACILITIES STRATEGY CRICKET WELLINGTON FACILITIES STRATEGY MAY 2018 Disclaimer: Information, data and general assumptions used in the compilation of this report have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Visitor Solutions Ltd has used this information in good faith and makes no warranties or representations, express or implied, concerning the accuracy or completeness of this information. Interested parties should perform their own investigations, analysis and projections on all issues prior to acting in any way regarding this project. © Visitor Solutions 2018. PAGE 3 CRICKET WELLINGTON | FACILITIES STRATEGY CONTENTS PAGE 1.0 | Overview ............................................................................................................................................ 6 2.0 | Summary Findings ............................................................................................................................. 7 3.0 | Membership and Participation ......................................................................................................... 8 4.0 | Wellington Region Growth ................................................................................................................. 11 5.0 | Club Feedback Overview ................................................................................................................... 14 6.0 | Council Overview ............................................................................................................................... 16 7.0 | Network and Outdoor Wicket Capacity ............................................................................................ 18 8.0 | Network of Indoor Facilities .............................................................................................................. 24 9.0 | Regional Issues and Considerations ................................................................................................... 26 10.0 | Opportunities and Priorities ........................................................................................................... 27 Appendix 1 – Indoor Cricket Venues Feedback .......................................................................................... 31 Appendix 2 - Alignment to New Zealand Cricket Facilities Priorities .......................................................... 34 Appendix 3 – Cricket Wellington Area Maps ............................................................................................. 35 PAGE 5 1.0 | OVERVIEW Purpose of Report Cricket Wellington commissioned Visitor Solutions to undertake a reginal facilities strategy for the Wellington region. The outcome of the report is to identify and prioritise the current and future issues and opportunities facing Cricket Wellington and provide related actions to support the development of the game. Methodology As part of preparing the report the following work has been undertaken: • Survey with clubs, • Interviews with New Zealand Cricket, • Interviews with Cricket Wellington, • Interviews with councils within the Cricket Wellington boundaries, • Membership analysis, • Update report for client review, • Population growth analysis, • Cricket wicket supply and demand analysis, • Development of issues, opportunities and potential priorities, • Development of proposed actions. CRICKET WELLINGTON | FACILITIES STRATEGY 2.0 | SUMMARY FINDINGS Summary of Key Findings • Cricket in the Wellington region is a significant summer sport with almost 15,000 people playing the game from male, female and junior players through to seniors. • There is a total of approximately 464 cricket teams in the Wellington region, of which 306 are junior teams. • Wellington City Council area has the majority of the teams with 321, followed by the Lower Hutt City Council area with 128 teams. • There has been an increase of 50 teams over the past six-year period (36 of which were from within the Wellington City Council area). • The network of cricket facilities is vast, ranging from the iconic Basin Reserve and Westpac Stadium through to community club and school wickets. • It is generally accepted that there are sufficient grounds to cater for the current demand for cricket. The projected outdoor wicket capacity section within the report identifies that there will be sufficient grounds and wickets to meet the current and project player demands. • The variable quality in the cricket grounds (wicket blocks, artificial wickets and outfields) provided across the region has been identified as a key issue by the clubs and Wellington Cricket. • However, cricket like most sports, is heavily reliant on the provision of facilities by a number of third parties (multiple Councils and schools). This creates a challenge in attempting to provide consistency in the quality of provision. • There is an inconsistent approach to levels of service for cricket in the Wellington region. There are different forms of user charges for sportsfields and various levels of wicket and outfield quality, as examples. • Improvements at key cricket sites throughout the region will be required in the future to provide an appropriate level of service. • Access to quality school wickets is becoming increasingly important to the cricket facilities network. There has been a growth of approximately 50 junior cricket teams in the last six seasons. • Increasing the quality of the existing artificial wickets will allow the growth of junior cricket to be undertaken on an appropriate standard of wicket for game and skill development. There are 118 primary schools with only 11 artificial wickets on school grounds. • The needs of Test, One Day and 20/20 requirements are met within the current facility network. The two key facilities within the Wellington region are the Basin Reserve (which is currently being upgraded as part of the masterplan redevelopment for the site) and Westpac Stadium. • There are sufficient indoor training facilities to cater for the club and representative requirements. • A potential back up first-class venue should be considered as part of the future planning. Potential options could be the upgrading of Korari Park (outfield issues), or Trentham Memorial Park (if the proposed combined Wellington high performance training venue is developed at the old CIT campus). • Cricket Wellington has identified a lack of quality outdoor grass training blocks in the Wellington region, often leading to representative squads having limited access to the required training areas. The upgrading of an existing asset (such as Korari) to the required specification and providing access at a cost-effective level is a possible solution. PAGE 7 3.0 | MEMBERSHIP AND PARTICIPATION The following section provides an overview of the membership and participation trends for cricket in the Wellington region over the past six years. Key Points • There is a total of approximately 464 cricket teams in the Wellington region, of which 306 are junior teams. • The Wellington City Council area has the majority of the teams with 321, followed by the Lower Hutt City Council area with 128 teams. • There has been an increase of 50 teams over the past six-year period (36 of which were from within the Wellington City Council area). • Junior club grades are where the team growth has occurred (50 teams) • Junior school cricket player numbers have increased over the past six years (474 to 726). • Progression through the youth grades appears to be a barrier to maintaining player numbers at senior level. • Female participation rates have decreased over the past five years (mainly as a result of New Zealand Cricket based programmes). Cricket Wellington Club Team Numbers Table 3.1 below summarises recent club team number trends in the four Council areas within the Cricket Wellington Region. Results are ordered according to the number of teams gained. As identified Wellington City has had the greatest increase in teams (36 new teams since 2012). While Wellington and to a lesser degree also Lower Hutt predominate, Upper Hutt City has had the highest proportional growth overall. Table 3.1: Cricket Wellington club team number growth trends by area (2012-2017) change 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 % 2012- /12 /13 /14 /15 /16 /17 change 2017 Wellington City 285 295 304 278 294 321 36 13 Lower Hutt City 113 112 110 108 109 128 15 13 Upper Hutt City 31 34 31 29 37 41 10 32 * Porirua City 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Wellington Cricket Region 429 441 445 415 440 490 61 14 Source: Cricket Wellington 1 The Porirua-based membership of the North City Club was estimated to be around 75% by Cricket Wellington for the indicative purposes here. This was the assumption used here to calculate team numbers based on North City membership records. CRICKET WELLINGTON | FACILITIES STRATEGY 3.0 Note: Porirua Porirua City is also included above despite not hosting any club, even though its population falls within the larger catchment area of the North City Cricket Club (in Wellington City’s north). To allow for this situation, Table 3.2 presents estimated team numbers associated with Porirua City1, and the correspondingly corrected number of Wellington City teams. This shows the variation and overall slight decline in team numbers associated with Porirua over recent years. Table 3.2: Revised Table 3.1 content (allowing for North City Club teams associated with Porirua City) change 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 % 2012- /12 /13 /14 /15 /16 /17 change 2017