The City of Stirling is launching a pilot program to test innovative noise-reduction solutions at its popular outdoor basketball courts, responding directly to growing complaints from residents living nearby.
Pilot Site and Proposed Solutions
This initiative follows a council request in May for a detailed report on managing court noise. The resulting report, now before the council, recommends Hancock Karabil Reserve in Nollamara as the pilot site. This location was chosen due to its proximity to homes and existing complaints about ball bounce noise.
City officers plan to trial a range of strategies to assess their effectiveness. The trial will begin with astroturf as an alternative surface material to determine its impact on noise reduction, playability, and surface durability.
Other potential measures include purpose-built sound barriers like curved retaining walls, acoustic fencing, strategic vegetation buffers, and even controlled access systems to limit usage to specific times. The city aims to test these methods individually and in combination to gauge their overall impact.
Balancing Community Needs and Growth
The noise issue is a significant planning challenge for the council. A key finding reveals that seventeen basketball pads in the City of Stirling are located less than 50 metres from homes. The closest, a one-on-one pad at Chadstone Park in Craigie, sits just 21 metres from the nearest residence.
Despite these challenges, demand for facilities is high. The city currently has only 38 outdoor basketball courts across its public spaces, a number expected to grow with the population. For context, the adjacent City of Joondalup has basketball facilities in 47 of its parks, despite having around 70,000 fewer residents.
The city's own Community Infrastructure Plan indicates a need for 15 additional basketball facilities over the next two decades to support the growing community.
A Path Forward for Future Facilities
The primary goal of the trial is to equip the city with proven strategies to deliver more outdoor basketball facilities responsibly. Insights from the pilot will guide future planning and surface selection for courts in residential areas.
City officers emphasised that the intent is not to place basketball facilities in all public open spaces, but to allow the city to consider sites previously deemed unsuitable. This approach aims to support a more equitable distribution of facilities across Stirling.
The appropriateness and financial impact of each noise mitigation option will be assessed on a site-by-site basis. Where deemed suitable, these options will form part of community consultation to ensure local support and understanding.
The Stirling council is set to decide on proceeding with the trial at its next meeting on November 25, 2025.
