West gets sport lift

Sport in the central city and out west is to get a multi-million dollar boost.

The council finally voted on August 9 to return Sport and Recreation New Zealand community sport fund money back to the communities where it was supposed to be spent in the first place.

Both the former Auckland and Waitakere cities held off spending their $2.49 million.

They handed the money over to the new Auckland Council in 2010 as they were asked to.

But this wasn’t fair as other legacy councils spent their money, Waitakere councillor Linda Cooper says.

The money has since earned interest and about $1.2m can now be given to increase sporting participation in the former Waitakere City area, and $1.5m in the former Auckland City area.

Cooper says the west has been trying to get the money back for the past six years.

‘‘It’s a very good win and it’s yet another loose end that we are tying up after the amalgamation ... and actually correcting an injustice.’’

Cooper says council officers are now to work with local boards and the regional sports trust to divvy out the money, but it is not to go to council initiatives.

She would personally like to see it help young women’s recreation as council spends 133 per cent more per a person on young men’s recreation, she says.