Council to kick in sports funding
Joint effort will tackle upgrade of ageing sporting facilities
Aplan to overhaul and consolidate Whanganui’s “ageing” public sporting facilities has the backing of Whanganui district councillors. The draft Sport and Recreation Facilities Strategy maps out how the council, alongside sporting bodies, will fund and meet the district’s current and future needs for facilities.
The council has been developing the plan alongside Sport Whanganui since 2015 and council staff hope it can be signed off before the local body elections in October, with public consultation open until April 12.
The plan allows the council to partfund new or expanded sports facilities, provided the relevant sporting
bodies advocating them have “a decent business case”, council general property manager Leighton Toy said.
The council says Whanganui’s sporting facilities need to be able to attract and host a range of local and regional events, that investment decisions should be “well-judged” based on the needs of the district and that facilities should increasingly be centralised around suitable hubs.
The plan flags that the council give $200,000 (10 per cent) towards a hockey turf, $75,000 (20 per cent) towards football improvements at Wembley Park, $20,000 (20 per cent) towards an indoor cricket facility and $100,000 (20 per cent) towards netball facility improvements. There is also a possible $50,000 (20 per cent) to create a River Activity Hub.
“Whanganui has a rich sports heritage