Velodrome crunch time
Long Term Plan needs to give solid direction: councillor
Whanganui district councillor Josh ChandulalMackay hopes the independent report into roofing the city’s velodrome will be released publicly “sooner rather than later”.
Stakeholders have been discussing the contents of the report since last year and ChandulalMackay said the next step was to discuss it at a public council meeting.
Chandulal-Mackay made the comments in a social media post which also suggested the council is considering a range of options “that lie between ‘do nothing’ and pursuing a full multipurpose event centre option”.
He said the 2007 Copeland Associates’ membrane design for roofing the velodrome, and its elevation to an events centre, has become lodged in the public mind as the only roofing option — but it isn’t.
The council commissioned SGL Group alongside BOON Team Architects and Rawlinsons Quantity Surveyors to do the survey which faced delays due to Covid-19.
Chandulal-Mackay would not talk about options.
“All I can say is that as councillors all we want to know is if there are other options. When we make a decision we have to look at more possible options.” He would not say whether other options have been discussed in the recent meetings.
The council has agreed in principle to support a velodrome roofing project, and in 2017 said it would provide $1 million toward it.
Last year it got a final report into roofing the 1995 structure where the wooden track is deteriorating. The report came to council in September and was discussed with the cycling sector and Regional Velodrome Development Trust in October. A further meeting between councillors and senior officers was held, and then a meeting with the report writers in December. What was said in all those meetings is still confidential.
Regional Velodrome Development Trust chairman Leigh Grant has not talked to council about the project since the October.
He believes the velodrome must be able to host other events in order to avoid cost to ratepayers.
His trust is adamant that it will work with the council to get the best outcome, he said. The council needs to make decisions about the velodrome before its draft Long Term Plan goes out for consultation in March.
Before that, Chandulal-Mackay said, councillors will need a full range of options and costs to consider.
The next step is for the report to be released and discussed in a public council meeting.
“My hope is that will be sooner rather than later.”
At the same meeting the council could decide to adopt one of the options, and the funding for it, into its Long Term Plan.
“It’s pretty imperative that the Long Term Plan gives a solid direction on where we are going with the velodrome,” he said.