Backing for roof plan
Sporting bodies eye middle option
Two local sporting bodies have backed Whanganui District Council’s preferred option for the future of Whanganui’s velodrome.
Both Cycling Whanganui and Sport Whanganui are submitting to the Long Term Plan in favour of council’s preference (Option 2) to repair and roof the velodrome at a cost of $20m.
The other two options out for public consultation are to demolish the track and decommission the site at an estimated cost of $200k (Option 1) or build a multi-purpose velodrome and events centre at a cost of $36.4m (Option 3).
The velodrome is currently closed because of rotting boards on the track.
The council has put forward its preference after an independent report, released in February, found there was “no current valid case” to proceed with the original proposal put forward by the Regional Velodrome Development Trust (RVDT).
The report cited a substantial upfront cost and a lack of demand for the facilities in the original $35.22 million proposal.
But the report left the door open for another form of roofing development.
Cycling Whanganui president Ian Murphy said the current debate on the velodrome should be about funding rather than a design at this stage.
“It is about protecting the asset and making it usable as soon as possible,” he said.
“Cycling Whanganui is committed to using the facility and encouraging other users and I am personally prepared to work towards getting the additional $11m that will be needed for the council’s preferred option.”
Murphy said while he appreciated the effort and commitment of the RVDT, the $20m option was affordable and would meet the needs of the community.
“Nothing has been confirmed in terms of the design at this stage and I think it is very important that the current discussion is around the establishment of funding rather than debating the validity of the options.”
However, RDVT chairman Leigh Grant said the trust believed council’s preferred option was a missed opportunity to build a velodrome facility that would provide a superior asset for the community.
“We did not agree on all aspects of the review the council commissioned, including the estimated cost. However, we noted the council’s concerns about cost and asked independent experts to look at how the [$36.4m] design could be reduced,” he said.
Grant said the RDVT has investigated designs for options with costs ranging from $21.95m to $25.6m and will be presenting the designs with their submission to the council’s Long Term Plan.
Murphy described the multipurpose proposal as the “bells and whistles option” and said it failed the “financial sniff test”.
He also said the option to decommission was “ludicrous” and believed that destroying a community asset, which is the only velodrome in the wider region, deserves no consideration.
Sport Whanganui chairman John Unsworth said the trust had read all the reports on the velodrome and was also backing the council and Cycling Whanganui’s preferred option.
It has made a submission to the Long Term Plan stating that “should Option 2 be adopted by the council, Sport Whanganui would encourage that the velodrome project is done in a way that best allows widespread public access and uses”.
One thing all parties agree on is that time is of the essence and the selected design will need to be built as quickly as possible.
Former New Zealand head cycling coach Ron Cheatley has expressed concern that rotting boards on the track indicate the trusses will begin to rot if the velodrome is not repaired and roofed within a short timeframe.
Cheatley said Cambridge’s Avantidrome, which opened in 2014 and was built within a twoyear time frame, provides an example for Whanganui.
“Build it and they will come,” he said.
“People were sceptical about the Cambridge project and claimed that only a few people would use it. That has proved to be completely untrue and it is in constant use.
“Cyclists travel from Auckland up to three times a week to use that facility and if Whanganui has a fit for purpose velodrome people will come from all over the mid-region to use it.”
Whanganui mayor Hamish Mcdouall has stressed that the council’s preferred option for the velodrome was not unanimous and that a final decision will not be made until submissions have been considered.
"It is about protecting the asset and making it usable as soon as possible."
Ian Murphy