Greyhound racing will cease at Sydney’s Wentworth Park with the inner-city track to be transformed into green space to support thousands of new homes, the state government has announced.<\/p>\n
When the existing lease expires in September 2027, the racing facilities will be demolished and the Crown land will be transferred to the City of Sydney for sporting fields.<\/p>\n
About 4,800 new homes are already being planned around the precinct, including the old fish market site at Blackwattle Bay.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Wentworth Park will be transformed into green space after more than 90 years of greyhound racing at the site.\u00a0 (Supplied: City of Sydney)<\/p>\n
However, the government believes that by creating more public space, an additional 2,500 homes could be supported.<\/p>\n
Premier Chris Minns said the homes would be well-serviced by light rail, ferries and the future metro station at Pyrmont.<\/p>\n
He also said up to 20 new sporting fields could be created.<\/p>\n
“This is how we build a fairer and more balanced Sydney,” he said.<\/p>\n
“By creating new housing in well-serviced areas, instead of pushing growth to places without the transport and infrastructure to support it.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A NSW government rendering of the planned surrounding homes. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
The end of an era<\/p>\n
The announcement will disappoint the greyhound racing industry, which has been eagerly awaiting the government’s decision on whether to renew its lease at Wentworth Park.<\/p>\n
In seeking an extension, the industry had proposed a hybrid model that would better utilise the land for sporting teams and the public, whilst still allowing racing to continue.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The greyhound track will be transformed into green spaces. (ABC News: Greg Bigelow)<\/p>\n
Greyhound racing first began at Wentworth Park in 1932 and progressively grew in popularity in the decades that followed, leading to the completion of a grandstand in the mid-80s.<\/p>\n
While crowd numbers have diminished since then, the venue still hosts more than 100 race meetings a year.<\/p>\n
The premier acknowledged some people would be disappointed by the decision.<\/p>\n
“But cities change, and we have a responsibility to plan for the future,” he said.<\/p>\n
The government said $10 million would be allocated to pay for upgrades at other greyhound tracks in NSW, so they can take on some of the races Wentworth Park loses.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Greyhound racing first began at the park in 1932. (ABC News: Greg Bigelow)<\/p>\n
Odds were against greyhounds staying<\/p>\n
The decision to end greyhound racing at Wentworth Park does not come as a major surprise.<\/p>\n
In 2022, the Coalition government released a strategy calling for the relocation of racing when the 2027 lease expires.<\/p>\n
However, last year, Lands Minister Steve Kamper left the door open to a potential extension.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In 2022, the previous government proposed relocating the racing track at the end of the lease. (ABC News: Greg Bigelow)<\/p>\n
That triggered criticism from Sydney Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, and animal welfare groups who have long called for the track’s closure.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Mr Kamper said today’s decision delivered the “final piece of the Blackwattle Bay puzzle”.<\/p>\n
“We have been clear from the outset that we need Wentworth Park to have greater utilisation and community activation of this central complex, and that is exactly what today’s announcement will unlock,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Greyhound racing will cease at Sydney’s Wentworth Park with the inner-city track to be transformed into green space…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,146776,187191,7688,44,16862,187193,187192,16133,187189,187190],"class_list":["post-335722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-city-of-sydney","tag-greyhound-track","tag-housing","tag-news","tag-nsw-government","tag-public-green-space","tag-public-open-space","tag-redevelopment","tag-wentworth-park-in-glebe","tag-what-is-happening-with-wentworth-park"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}