THE City of Fremantle will take over management of the financially troubled Fremantle Park Sport and Community Centre in a bid to prevent the facility collapsing under ongoing losses and governance problems.

Councillors voted on Wednesday night to assume operational control of the centre after a two-year caretaker arrangement, with Fremantle mayor Ben Lawver saying the current arrangement was no longer sustainable.

“So, just in layman’s terms, the building when it was conceived and built, was to have the tennis club, the bowling club, and the workers club, share all the spaces and live in harmony together,” Mr Lawver said.

“The on the ground reality is that didn’t really work, and the city has put in over a half a million dollars to keep those three clubs operational in the past couple years.

“We’re happy to support our clubs, but that’s just not sustainable. There’s a lot of clubs in Fremantle that would love to get that kind of support.”

As previously reported by the Herald, an independent review warned the centre’s financial trajectory was unsustainable, with the Fremantle Park Sport and Community Centre Inc recording a $128,000 deficit in 2024 and facing potential insolvency within one to two years if reforms were not made.

The report also identified fragmented governance, declining membership and volunteer participation, poor marketing, inconsistent food service and physical design problems within the building.

Among the issues cited were the lack of a ground-floor kitchen, function spaces with limited capacity, and restrictions caused by the venue’s sound limiter.

Capacity

Mr Lawver said the city had spent years trying to find a workable solution.

Under the new model, the city’s recreation services team will manage bookings, maintenance and day-to-day operations, while the individual clubs retain dedicated areas.

“That will give the bowling club basically part of the building, that will give the tennis club basically part of the building, and the workers club will have exclusive use of it, I believe, on Sundays,” Mr Lawver said.

“Things like the kitchen and the bar and the venue can then be booked out through the City’s booking system for various community events.”

The City said the venue could also host yoga classes, weddings, community functions and other activities.

“It’ll be managed by the Leisure Centre through that booking system, so I think there’s a natural synergy there,” Mr Lawver said.

The council agenda said affordable community spaces remained in high demand in Fremantle and the centre could help fill a shortage of neighbourhood-sized community facilities.

The City also flagged opportunities for expanded sports programming, commercial venue hire and a proposed padel and pickleball facility at the site.

Mr Lawver said two of the clubs directly supported the proposal.

“Two of the clubs attended, so tennis and the bowls club, both attended, saying that they supported this way forward.”

Mr Lawver said some operational details still needed to be resolved and acknowledged flaws in the way the centre was originally designed.

“I wasn’t on council when all this got put together, but what I’ve been told is that this is a perfect example of design by committee,” he said.