Community Gym
In 2022 the Shire of Boddington undertook community consultation to determine the level of support in the community for the Shire to establish and operate a Community Gym to meet existing needs and leverage emerging opportunities. Since the Boddington Recreation Centre opened in 2017, feedback from the community has expressed aspiration for a gym facility to be incorporated as part of the Recreation Precinct, so the consultation also clarified the community’s needs and expectations to inform the future operational requirements of the space.
A Community Gym is a health and wellbeing initiative whereby a regional Local Government owns and operates a space for residents to exercise unsupervised with commercial grade equipment to allow for both cardio and strength/weights training. At present the closest gym facilities are located in Armadale (95km), Pinjarra (75km) and Narrogin (82km) which aren’t considered accessible for the community.
Proposal
It is proposed to repurpose the change rooms at the Boddington Pavilion into a Community Gym. The advantages of this include:
- maximising use of an inactivated facility that is already co-located within the existing sport and recreation precinct;
- meeting a current need in the community within a short-term timeframe;
- suitability of the floor space consisting of two defined rooms that would effectively cater for cardio and weight lifting areas; and
- external funding opportunities are available to recover the cost of equipment and other start-up expenses to repurpose the space.
The Sport and Recreation Facilities Plan 2021-31 for Peel and South West by the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries (DLGSC) identifies an extension to the Boddington Recreation Centre for a gym facility to be an eligible project for external funding in the medium term.
Beside infrastructure costs in establishing a new facility, it is anticipated that gym equipment will be the most significant cost in establishing a community gym. Therefore, pursuing a Community Gym at an existing facility will facilitate a staged approach by making use of external funding opportunities as they become available, while meeting a community need sooner with an interim solution.
It is anticipated the Community Gym would function as a user-pay service with annual operational costs recovered by membership fees. Any additional revenue would enter a reserve dedicated to the upkeep and continuous improvement of the facility. Members would be granted access using a swipe card and the facility would be fitted with video surveillance technology and will have capacity to be remotely viewed by the Shire and/or security provider.
There would be opportunity to engage Group Fitness Instructors and Personal Trainers to facilitate exercise pre-screening, inductions and ongoing appraisals for members to exercise unsupervised, as well as opportunities to facilitate programs from the space.
Community Consultation
Community Gym Survey Residents within the Shire of Boddington were invited to participate in a survey to share their level of support for the proposal between 11 April – 30 April 2022.
Local Fitness Industry Engagement Local providers of group fitness and personal trainers services within the Shire of Boddington were engaged with a targeted invitation to participate in the survey to gauge their level of support for the proposal, as well as identify opportunities to collaborate and add value to their existing businesses.
Project Timeline
The key milestones include:
- 17 February 2022 | Council endorse progressing to community consultation
- 11 April – 30 April 2022 | Consultation period undertaken
- 21 July 2022 | Council endorse support for Community Gym concept, subject to resourcing available in the 2022/23 budget
- 18 August 2022 | Council endorse Community Gym project in 2022/23 budget
- October 2022 | Project components scoped and external funding application submitted
- March - April 2023 | External funding outcome advised