The NSW Labor government’s crusade to free up more green space as Sydney grapples with a shift to higher density living will open school ovals to the public after hours and on weekends.

In an expansion of a program which already allows hundreds of schools to open up playing fields during the holidays, the Minns government will trial public schools also making their ovals available during term time.

Premier Chris Minns said there was “a significant amount of green space that the public have been locked out of for many years”, including the state’s public schools.

Schools that will be in the first phase of the after-hours trial include Kogarah High, Bardwell Park Infants School, Manly West, Roseville and Seaforth primary schools and Strathfield Girls High.

The government is determined to find more green space for the city, which has locked Minns in a turf war with golfers over his plans to halve Moore Park’s 18-hole golf course to create a 20-hectare park.

Loading

Minns last year vowed to slash nine holes from Moore Park, the closest golf course to Sydney’s CBD, and convert nearly half the 45-hectare site into a park for residents of the nearby fast-growing suburbs of Green Square, Redfern, Zetland and Waterloo, citing the need to balance density with green space.

Golfers, local councillors and even US actor Mark Wahlberg, an avid golfer, are against the plans.

The next target in Minns’ greens space push will be schools. Under the government’s popular shared spaces program, almost 200 school ovals are available during the holidays for public use, but they cannot be used outside the term break.