Council acting group parks and recreation manager Tom Dyer discussed the issue in a report tabled at the council's community and environment committee meeting yesterday.
The report showed sports field bookings were significantly up on last year, with slightly more than 3000 bookings in June compared to slightly more than 2000 last year.
He pointed to increased participation in sports as a reason for the increase, with major sporting codes reporting growth in player numbers.
The sharp increase this year was part of a wider trend, with an increase of about 15% in the past five years.
In the coming year council staff would carry out further assessment of the trend to determine the pressure it was placing on its network of sports fields.
In response to questions from chairwoman Jinty MacTavish about the ``substantial'' increase in booking this winter compared to last, Mr Dyer said in addition to increased participation, tournament bookings also played a part.
Asked if there were capacity issues, Mr Dyer said some of its facilities were in ``very high demand'' and others were less popular.
The extra pressure on the fields came after a dry autumn, meaning grass coverage was poorer than usual, making ground closures more frequent.
The strategic work it had started would look at capacity issues and whether the quality of the turf was suffering because of the amount of use.
Football South chief executive Chris Wright said player numbers in the region, which takes up the area south of Geraldine, had climbed by close to 80% since 2011, which included an increase of about 5% this year.
It had become more of a challenge sourcing sports grounds for both training and games, but he congratulated the council for the way it managed its fields, Mr Wright said.
Otago Rugby Football Union general manager Richard Kinley said it was yet to get a full picture of player numbers, but there had definitely been an increase this season.
Clubs and the union were working hard to retain players and there had been a growth in both the number of junior and secondary school players, Mr Kinley said.
In winter a number of the main grounds got ``hammered'' and the quality of the turf suffered, so it worked with council to make sure bookings were spread out.
The level of demand showed there was no room for council to reduce the number of sports fields it provided.
Rugby league southern zone general manager Steve Martin said numbers playing the game had gradually increased from five years ago when the sport had little presence in the region.
Access to sports fields, especially for training, was always a ``challenge'' and he congratulated the council for taking a look at the issue.
This came as councillors yesterday approved a parks and recreation strategy for consultation.
Cr Lee Vandervis voted against its approval, citing its failure to mention the city's parks and open spaces as being places where arts and cultural events could be held.
Other councillors shared Cr Vandervis' concern, but believed the issue could be addressed during the consultation process.
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Comments
Does the DCC ever actually proactively do anything - other than bike lanes of course?
Do they have no one monitoring population levels at the various age brackets?
Dunedin's population may not be growing fast, but is is changing. DCC seem to have a bottomless pit of semi managers and strategists being paid to do all sorts of wonderful things, but when push comes to shove they are just in reaction mode.
Get a mayor who cares about things other than bike tracks, and get some staff who know how to plan.
I don't care who people vote for, but some real change is needed.
I think Jinty's responsible for all this. It's not good enough. As chair of P & R, she asked questions that resulted in agreement by the parties and not Argy Bargy. No Argy Bargy!. This town didn't get where it is today by being conciliatory.