Putney Park Swim Site Activation

Project typeOpen Space, Sport and Recreation Program
Project StatusConstruction

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With the support of the NSW State Government's ‘Places to Swim’ grant, and the collaborative efforts of the local community, and the Parramatta River Catchment Group the City of Ryde will be launching the new Parramatta River swim site, at Putney Park.

Places to Swim connects people to water in places that need it the most, creating better access to get in, on and around inland waterways across NSW; through a $16.7 million commitment to high quality open space. Together with the NSW Government, the City of Ryde is delivering infrastructure that is essential for communities, increasing access to water for recreation across the state. The NSW Government has contributed $698,475 to the delivery of the Putney Park swim site project.

In partnership with the Parramatta River Catchment Group (PRCG), Council is working to improve the health of the river long term and deliver new river swimming sites by 2025. This new swimming site at Putney Park will enable our community to escape the heat and cool off with a river swim and is one of several new locations across the Parramatta River, expanding in-river opportunities.

The City of Ryde acknowledges the significant community interest in the Putney Beach Swim Site, which was scheduled to be officially open for the 2023/24 summer. Overall, more than 70% of respondents who engaged with our Putney Park Swim Site Activation ‘Have Your Say’ in May 2023 stated that they would swim at the new site once it opens.

Due to complex and evolving approval processes for construction with multiple state agency approvals, the project was unfortunately delayed. We are excited to now advise that work on the new swim site will soon commence!

What will the work involve?

There will be three stages of work to prepare the swim site across several contractors:

Upgrading the seawall length in the vicinity and improvements of surrounding landscaping
Installation of swim site enclosure infrastructure
Installing swimming netting

View map of proposed work area

When will the work take place?

The work is expected to commence from Monday 5 August 2024 with completion by December 2024, weather permitting.

The planned construction hours are Mondays to Fridays, between 7.00am and 5.00pm, and Saturdays, between 8.00am and 1.00pm, if required.

Following completion of work, a series of safety checks will be carried out before the site will be officially ready to be opened for swimming.

What are the changed conditions during the work?

To assist with storage and transport of construction equipment, 10 parking spaces will temporarily be removed. During the work, there will be a five-metre exclusion zone around the work area, therefore some sections of the park will be unavailable.

Some noise disturbance could be expected at times while this work is completed, however the work will be managed to minimise disturbance as much as practically possible.

We appreciate your cooperation. A further update will be provided to our community closer to the opening of the Putney Beach swim site.

Completed Works

Major works have already been completed at the site, including the construction of stairs for easy access to the beach and water quality monitoring is continuing with positive results.