Trafalgar Centre use ‘alarming’
The Trafalgar Centre was empty for three quarters of the last year, with an income of just over $200,000.
Nelson City councillor Mel Courtney obtained statistics revealing that the main arena was used just eight of the 480 days the centre has been open.
The northern extension was used on 41.5 days, and the whole venue was used on 73.5 days, making a total of 123 days of use, or 26 per cent of the days it has been open.
Courtney said the amount of usage was ‘‘alarming’’.
‘‘We’ve got to get better utilisation. It’s an asset worth $17 million that’s sitting there waiting to blossom.
‘‘I’m positive about it, but a $200,000 income in a $17m asset, that itself is worrying,’’ he said.
The centre, which had a total running cost of $2,139,322 in the 2018-2019 financial year, has brought in $224,588 since its reopening. Of the running costs, $1.4m goes towards interest and depreciation.
Courtney said he thought the centre needed to be ‘‘returned to the community’’.
‘‘I want it to be an asset, a lever for the CBD.’’
He said there was not enough marketing of either the centre or events that took place there.
‘‘You can’t sell a secret. It’s got to be advertised more, it’s got to have a rate for the community that’s acceptable so they can use it more, and the flow on effects would be fantastic for the CBD and businesses.’’
The centre closed in 2013 to be earthquake strengthened and upgraded, and remained closed until April last year.
Former mayor and current Smokefree Rockquest co-director Pete Rainey oversaw the beginning of the upgrades.
‘‘I consistently and repeatedly said there needed to be a genuine effort towards audience development, I knew because it had been closed for such a long time I knew it would be hard to get the audience back,’’ he said.
‘‘From where I am, I can’t see any evidence of that.’’
He said that, although he didn’t know the context behind the usage of the centre, ‘‘the figures speak for themselves, something’s not right’’.
‘‘Compared to other centres around the country I think they’re abysmal.’’
He said ‘‘a whole lot of things’’ could be done to improve usage.
‘‘One of the consistent criticisms that come through is that it’s too expensive. I don’t think that’s necessarily the case because it’s a big centre and it costs a lot of money to run . . . however, the facility lacks a whole lot of things that you should get for the money that you pay for it.
‘‘The glaring one being heating, you can’t heat the place. It’s almost unusable in winter. There needs to be a proactive stance from the council to get people coming back to the centre,’’ he said.
Group manager of community services Roger Ball said the business was ‘‘rebuilding steadily’’ after its long closure.
‘‘Most facilities do have income targets of between 10 and 20 per cent of their annual operating costs,’’ Ball said.
‘‘The Trafalgar Centre has achieved 10.5 per cent in its first year since fully reopening, and we are hoping to build further on that successful start.’’
He said more than 49,000 people had attended 75 different events at the centre up until the end of July.
‘‘Council expects these numbers to increase over the next few years.’’
In the year up until its closure in 2013, the centre had hosted 77,420 people in 179 events.
Ball said the priority in marketing the centre until recently was developing customer service and improving ‘‘the professional infrastructure inside the facility to match the industry standards across New Zealand’’.
Priority had also been given to marketing nationally to conference organisers, who Ball said had to plan events up to three years in advance.
‘‘The marketing of the centre is now progressing to the next stage, with the promotion of events online via the Trafalgar Venues Facebook page, branding development, and improved signage around the facility,’’ he said.
‘‘This is a work in progress but is delivering results.’’