Kaitaia’s Sports Hub in for a boost
Kaitaia’s Te Hiku Sports Hub is one of five sporting initiatives that are to share almost $3.8 million from a new sporting facilities rate introduced via the Northland Regional Council’s 2018-28 long-term plan.
Te Hiku Sports Hub chairman David Senior described the funding as another significant financial boost to the project.
“With the Far North District Council also budgeting support from 2020, we are increasingly confident that we can reach our fundraising target,” he said.
The NRC announcement was a direct result of the hard work of the Hub committee and volunteers who took part in the Pak’nSave campaign earlier this year, he added. More than 1500 submissions, from a total of 2050, had been received from Kaitaia, too strong a message for the NRC to ignore.
“Thanks to our community’s support, we are one step closer to making the Sports Hub and Aquatic Centre a reality in the near future,” Mr Senior said.
“We are indebted to the NRC and Sport Northland for their support.”
The council said its regional sporting facilities rate of $15 per household was aimed at aiding the development of sporting facilities of regional and district benefit throughout Northland.
The first recipient would be Sportsville Dargaville, which had been allocated up to $600,000 from next month, followed by Sportsville Kaikohe, which would initially receive up to $100,000 from November.
Sportsville Dargaville would spend its grant on Stage II of that project, installing floodlights and fitting out the facility, while Sportsville Kaikohe would use its funding on Stage I, floodlighting rugby fields.
The Mangawhai Activity Zone was scheduled to receive up to $500,000 from May next year. Its plans included the completion of an Olympic-standard skateboard facility. It already had facilities including an allweather multi-sport court, cricket/soccer fields, an outdoor fitness gym, an adventure playground and bike tracks.
The Te Hiku Sports Hub, which would include an aquatic centre with a heated pool, was to receive the largest allocation, $1.4m over three years from May 2020, while Whanga¯rei’s Pohe Island Sports Hub would receive two grants totalling $1.18m in 2021 for a project including bike park and rugby facilities.
The regional council announced the allocations last week to give the various organisations certainty and provide them with a platform to apply for funding from other parties. The allocations were subject to the regional council chief executive’s final sign-off.
A sixth project, the Northland Football Hub in Whanga¯rei, had been earmarked for consideration for a 2021-2024 round of grants, alongside further funding for Sportsville Kaikohe and Pohe Island. Cr Paul Dimery said submissions received during the LTP process had been “substantially supportive” of new sports facilities.
“We’re so pleased to be able to contribute to these initiatives, which will benefit the mental health and physical wellbeing of Northlanders and strengthen our communities,” he said.
“The benefits of these projects will be felt for many years to come, and everyone stands to gain, from pre-schoolers through to the elderly, as well as those who are disabled, unwell or disadvantaged in some other way. The geographic spread of these facilities also makes attendance and participation far more accessible to Northlanders. We know that people are currently travelling huge distances to get to the facilities they need.”
Sport Northland chief executive Brent Eastwood said the approval of the rate was a massive boost for the development of quality sports facilities across the region.
“In the past it has been very hard work for key Northland facility projects to leverage often only small amounts of district council seed funding through external funding applications,” he said.
“This new rate is a gamechanger for these projects, because sports organisations can now apply to the likes of Foundation North and NZ Lotteries in the knowledge that they have secured sufficient Northland funding to be confident of success.”
Sport Northland had a dedicated strategic goal around ensuring that the right facilities were developed in the right locations.
“We are here to support the great work that is being undertaken by the various organisations in developing key facilities across the three district council areas,” he added.
“The regional council is funding the projects in a strategic way, and with this prioritisation for the next three years now approved, each district has some exciting facilities set to be completed in the coming years.”
Strong support