Centres fear being removed as ‘heart’

Queenstown Playcentre and the Queenstown Arts Centre believe a council plan to create a community heart will remove them as the heart of the community.

The Queenstown Lakes District Council is proposing to build new council offices on the centralQueenstown Stanley St site currently occupied by the organisations and car parks.

The proposal says the location will provide for ‘‘a combined council office and a community heart’’, in the Queenstown Town Centre plan.

Many submissions on the plan are against the removal of the Queenstown Playcentre, including one from the playcentre.

‘‘Queenstown Playcentre is the community heart for a number of families and groups within the wider Queenstown Community,’’ the submission says.

‘‘One of our primary roles is to offer opportunities for social, cultural and civic engagement and reduce barriers to community participation for families who often find Queenstown a socially isolating and financially challenging place to live.’’

More than 30 families and 50 children are involved with the centre.

The building is on land owned by the Ministry of Education.

Otago-Southland director Julie Anderson said the playcentre was ’’one of the most heavily utilised’’ in the area.

‘‘As community-based services, the cost of having to re-establish elsewhere may be prohibitive, especially in Queenstown itself, should the ministry dispose of the site,’’ she said.

However, the council claims, on its website, there was never a proposal to replace the playcentre with a council building.

‘‘The playcentre site is part of a large footprint of land earmarked through a strategic planning process as an area appropriate for community related activities, to create a heart in the town centre,’’ council senior communications advisor Rebecca Pitts said.

‘‘What that might look like in the future will be subject to ongoing consultation with the community and groups currently located on the site and in cussion with the ministry.’’

The neighbouring Queenstown Arts Centre building is also on the location.

Centre co-ordinator Andie King said a gallery, workshop and studio spaces should be included in the project.

‘‘This is the only place which shows what locals are doing and you have your social groups and it all connects.’’

It was also important for the arts centre to be visible on the Stanley and Ballarat streets corner, being a gateway to Queenstown, King said.

‘‘It [the land] is under the Reserves Act so pretty much it’s meant to be community-based groups that it’s for.’’

The playcentre has been on the site for 37 years.

It also provides a te reo Ma¯ori group - Te Puna Ako o Ta¯huna - which is the only Ma¯ori medium immersion early learning option in the Wakatipu Basin.

‘‘We are open to exploring options regarding the proposed civic heart, but note that we also wish to ensure Queenstown continues to have a diversity of early learning options that are accessible and affordable for families,’’ Anderson said. dis-