The vacant land is on the corner of the Oxley Highway and Stoney Creek Road.

Port Macquarie-Hastings Council accelerated planning into future sporting field options after receiving 18 months’ notice to vacate the Tuffins Lane fields.

A draft concept plan for the Wauchope site aims to meet a diverse range of sports and recreational needs.

The plan shows a sports facility with large club room that caters for major regional and state sports events like the State Touch Cup.

The concept plan includes 12 soccer/rugby fields, six cricket pitches, cricket nets and 25 touch fields.

About 500 car parks are distributed around the site.

A fenced off-leash dog area is featured in the north-east corner, while a perimeter walking track surrounds the fields.

The plans feature a drainage system.

Cr Justin Levido said the council needed to plan for the future based on the eviction notice for Tuffins Lane fields.

He said this was not a matter that council had been fiddling its thumbs over.

The council on October 19 rejected the September 19 offer from Chase Parklands for the council to purchase the Tuffins Lane sporting fields.

The council noted its latest 2016 independent valuation of the Tuffins Lane property as $810,000 and noted the purchase price of the Tuffins Lane property by Chase Parklands Pty Limited, which settled on September 2, 2016, as $550,000.

Cr Levido said the council was very mindful of the enormous impact and enormous benefit to the whole local government area from competitions played at Tuffins Lane.

“Council has absolutely no intention at all of letting that slip away,” he said.

The next steps include starting the Wauchope site rezoning and establishing an internal advisory group to progress planning.

Sports groups will be consulted through the planning process and about Port Macquarie sporting fields.

Port Macquarie-Hastings mayor Peter Besseling said Tuffins Lane was the short term answer.

He said the council had a longer term plan for a large sporting precinct for the current users of Tuffins Lane.

“We will be working with the sporting groups in developing medium term options for better utilising existing facilities in Port Macquarie for both training and playing,” Cr Besseling said.

Port Macquarie Junior Touch Football Association registrar Melinda Cotter said she was devastated at the council decision.

Mrs Cotter said Port Macquarie had an identity in NSW as the home of touch.

“We must do whatever it takes to retain Tuffins Lane as a sporting facility,” she said.

Mrs Cotter told the Port News that the council’s argument was flawed.

She said the council should be doing everything possible to secure the Tuffins Lane fields.

“Go ahead with Wauchope, I’m all for more sporting fields, but we cannot lose Tuffins Lane,” Mrs Cotter said.

Wauchope Rotary Club president Kathryn Stephens spoke in support of the Wauchope proposal.

“It will be a great economic, sport, tourism and community opportunity for the greater Hastings and the larger area,” she said.

Ms Stephens said it was extremely important to have a leash-free dog park in Wauchope.

Terrance Stafford, who represented football, said he didn’t want to see Tuffins Lane lost to council but he would leave that decision to the elected councillors.

He raised concerns about the training capacity of Port FC and Port United.

“As clubs, if we can’t have a base in Port Macquarie, we don’t survive,” Mr Stafford said.

He supports more community consultation and investigation into better use of existing sports facilities.

“I’m very supportive of the facility in Wauchope,” Mr Stafford said.

“I think it’s something that the community and the region needs as a whole.”

But he said it wasn’t a facility designed to replace Tuffins Lane and he requested the that council start looking for another facility similar to Tuffins Lane in Port Macquarie.