Support for multi-sports hub from young generation
New Plymouth councillors have been slam dunked with a campaign wanting ratepayer money for a multi-sports hub.
Councillors yesterday went into the second of four days of hearings on their long-term plan for spending $3 billion over the next 10 years.
The multi-sports and community complex is one of the big proposals.
The idea is being led by Sport Taranaki, which wants the complex to share the New Plymouth Racecourse site.
The council is looking to contribute $40 million towards the costs, with work on the hub building, housing six indoor courts and multi-use space, starting in 2026-27.
This would see a rates increase of $22 million (2.2 per cent) over eight years, and see council debt increase by $34 million.
But the push is for the money to instead be spent in 2024-25, which would increase rates by $28m (2.8 per cent) over 10 years, and increase council debt by $33m.
Yesterday, a class from Central School, New Plymouth, led the charge for building the hub sooner rather than later.
After a waiata, students Scarlett Marshall, Isabel Shinoj and Alexia Walker, all aged 10, asked for the money to be given in year four.
‘‘Sports like basketball are currently going ahead about 9pm. That’s past our bedtimes,’’ Scarlett said.
Isabel added: ‘‘If you have the sports hub built sooner you will have kids like me playing sports from a younger age.’’
‘‘The sooner we have the sports hub the sooner we’re becoming a more active community and we will live healthier lives,’’ Alexis said.
Councillor Murray Chong asked the children if they were aware that by the time they were his age, their rates would be $40,000 a year.
But Chong was shot down by mayor Neil Holdom. ‘‘Badgering the witness,’’ Holdom said.
Councillor Dinnie Moeahu then asked the kids if their teachers would be buying them icecream because of the ‘‘courage’’ they had shown.
There did not seem to be a sure response to that.
Afterwards, the girls spoke of their nerves beforehand but said public speaking got easier.
They also said they had felt listened to, although they were not so sure about some of the questions the councillors asked them.
Teacher Siobhan O’Hara said the students were thinking that if the hub happened in year four, they would be 14 and still interested in sports.
‘‘It’s all come from them, which is really cool.’’
Back at the submissions, longtime sports administrator Phil Gayton brought copies of decades-old articles bemoaning New Plymouth’s lack of sports facilities.
‘‘Forty years ago the heading is: lack of space for indoor sport,’’ Gayton said.
‘‘I hope that in 41 years’ time, in 2062, there won’t be other sports administrators like me standing here pleading for action.’’
Afterward, Gayton said he had felt listened to at his dozen submissions over the years. ‘‘I just wonder, at times, are they brave enough to jump the hurdle and see we need it.’’
Other submitters were not so sure about the hub in its current form.
‘‘Leave the race track alone and develop this in another area,’’ Dana Wong suggested, raising concerns around traffic and safety issues with horse racing.
Dion Tuuta, of Te Kotahitanga o Te Atiawa Trust, told councillors the iwi supported the hub in principle, but wanted the design to include hauora – a Ma¯ ori philosophy of health incorporating physical, mental/ emotional, social and spiritual wellbeing.
Robyn Towning, from the Taranaki Community Stadium Trust, said they had the TET Stadium in Inglewood and wanted support to make that a central multi-sport and community hub.
They were not opposed to the New Plymouth proposal, but did not want the smaller community hubs to be forgotten, she said.
Maureen Hannan said she was not opposed to the hub but was opposed to $40m of ratepayer money being used.
She argued Sport Taranaki had ‘‘bombarded’’ people with postcards to be sent on to council and this had skewed the feedback in their favour.
Waitara footed the bill for their new sports complex, she said, but Sport Taranaki ‘‘expect to get a hand out and preferential treatment?’’
Sport Taranaki chief executive Michael Carr said the hub was not just for sports.
‘‘It’s going to mean different things to different people.
‘‘We know it’s a need to have. We’ve got things like our childhood obesity rates in Taranaki.’’
He also argued their postcard campaign had not skewed the feedback but allowed a different audience to have a say.
‘‘All options were on there.’’
The community had to learn from the dire state of New Plymouth’s water infrastructure, Carr said.
‘‘This is social infrastructure and we need to learn from that and not get to a crisis point before we all of a sudden start to invest.’’
Parafed Taranaki, which supports sport and recreation for the disabled, also gave its support for the hub, with representatives Philip Wells and Tracy Coker speaking of the need for venues for para sport.
Rugby League Taranaki’s Tony Kemp asked for the sport to also be included in the proposal and for the code to be consulted.
‘‘Rugby League has been forgotten,’’ he told councillors.
He said the code ‘‘100 per cent’’ supported the proposal, but ‘‘in a manner that gives us the same opportunity as any other kid that wants to play sports in that sports hub’’.
The long-term plan includes millions for water infrastructure and extending the Coastal Walkway, and could see a 12 per cent rates rise in the first year and 6.1 per cent over nine years.
The long-term plan hearings continue at 9.30am today and conclude tomorrow.