Concern at plan to sell community centre
Wadestown residents are concerned at the council’s plan to sell their local community centre.
Councillors voted through the proposal in a slash-a-thon budget meeting – among other cost saving measures including the closure of the Arapaki Libary and Service Centre, and the closure of the Khandallah Pool. The community will be consulted before the Long-Term Plan is finalised in June.
Greg Hyland, the chairperson of the Wadestown and Highland Park Residents’ Association, said the council was “scraping for change down the back of the couch”.
The community centre has a rateable value of $1.4 million. “I’m appalled the city would target well-used, well-loved community facilities,” Hyland said.
Local list MP Nicola Willis wrote a letter to Wellington City councillors, asking for clarity about the proposal to sell the community centre. “The Wadestown Community Centre has long served as a vital hub for our community, providing a space for residents to come together, share experiences and actively participate in various cultural, educational and recreational activities.”
Many concerned residents had contacted her about the community centre, she said.
In the council Community Facilities Plan the centre is assessed as having “very low use” but the community strongly disagreed with that assessment – it was used for music classes most days, as well as a toy library, mahjong games and Zumba classes.
The news that the facility could be sold came as a shock to music teacher Ashleigh Cole, who runs Music Box Academy in the Wadestown Community Centre with her partner David Lester. They employ ten music teachers, who give kids lessons in singing, piano, drums, guitar and bass guitar.
About 270 children were enrolled as students and Music Box held lessons every week night. During the past five years the academy has grown from just ten students, and Cole has her sights set on eventually reaching 500 students.
“The tamariki are being invested in right now, with a community space,” Cole said. Giving children easy access to music lessons would help continue Wellington’s as a creative capital.
Cole was confident Music Box Academy would continue operating in a new location if the centre did close, but she would prefer to remain in “the heart of Wadestown” where the school had established itself as part of the community.
“There’s so much hard work we’ve put in ... We’re constantly connecting children together in the suburbs that once did not know each other. The parents all catch up and have a cup of tea while they’re waiting for their child and bring their siblings along in the play area.”
– The Long-Term Plan will go out for consultation in April and May, with public hearings ahead of its adoption at the end of June. reputation