The comprehensive professional planning of leisure and recreation facilities, programs and services is essential to the delivery of effective, equitable and efficient leisure experiences across the community. If our planning lacks substance and resilience, so will the products it creates and the health and resilience of our communities will be weakened.
There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that leisure and recreation planning is increasingly not being carried out or if it is, it is being undertaken in a piecemeal, sloppy fashion. The paper is part of a wider review of leisure planning strategies and outcomes being undertaken by the author. It concludes that the problems stem from a diversity of sources and that these are leading to a threat to the quality and relevance of many leisure facilities, programs and services and a potential negative skew as to who in the community gains the benefits of these. The paper suggests some initial strategies for action designed to help overcome the problems identified