Sharks: club will be dead in the water if plan refused
FEARS the Cronulla Sharks will fold is clouding debate over a $300 million club expansion that would transform the skyline, with towers up to 14 storeys, opponents say, in a debate that has divided neighbouring Liberal MPs.
The Cronulla Sutherland Leagues Club, which cannot afford a chief executive, says its future hinges on the approval of a retail-residential development around Toyota Stadium at Woolooware, including a shopping and restaurant complex and eight new buildings comprising 600 apartments.
Approval would grant the club an immediate boost of $10 million to pay off a $13 million debt it says was brought on by declining revenue and crippling interest repayments. The club would also receive at least $1 million a year from retail rents.
At a public forum last month, the Sports Minister and Miranda MP, Graham Annesley, noted concerns over the proposal but said some development applications went deeper than ''bricks and mortar issues''.
Advertisement
''If the club folds due to financial pressures, the repercussions will be felt far beyond just Sharks fans in the shire. [It] would almost certainly also have repercussions for the competition structure and potential revenues of the National Rugby League itself,'' he said.
But the plan has drawn opposition from the Liberal Cronulla MP, Mark Speakman, who said the survival argument was not backed by hard evidence. ''I don't doubt that they have very serious problems … but [the club] hasn't produced any quantitative analysis showing why they need something as big as this,'' he said.
Earlier this year, the consortium behind the proposal responded to public concern by reducing building heights on several towers and cutting the number of units by 100.
But critics say the plan remains too large, traffic will be gridlocked at peak times and, according to Sutherland council, will function as a ''privately owned internalised shopping mall'', rather than a town centre.
The Department of Planning found in favour of the proposal and the Planning and Assessment Commission will make a final decision.
