Recreation

Andy Foster — Vote #1 for Council

ONSLOW-WESTERN

I’m a keen sportsperson. I’ve play football for Waterside Karori, am a competitive mountain runner and rogainer, and when time permits kayak, tramp, ski, play tennis and netball.

I’m involved in sports administration as a Board member of Capital Football, Deputy Chair of Waterside Karori AFC, and Secretary of the Karori Park Sports Club. I’m also part of the team organising the annual Meridan Energy ‘Gutbuster’ around Karori Sanctuary. I’ve also been involved in tennis administration for several years.

Recreation

Current policy issues

Council’s investing heavily in recreation, from playgrounds to pools, bush tracks to sportsfields, dominated by the proposed investment in a 12 court indoor stadium. I’m just going to select a small number of projects to comment on.

Playgrounds – We are progressively upgrading playgrounds around the city. Officers are currently reviewing the programme. I expect that Thorndon (Katherine Mansfield Park) will be next followed by Northland (Creswick St). Benburn Park in Karori has been close to the top of the list. Crofton Downs and Karori East currently don’t meet the Council’s playground policy standards of a playground within 600-800 metres. I’ve suggested a new playground on top of the Messines Road water reservoir beside the Russian embassy following the development of a new reservoir on that site in the next 2-3 years.

Karori Park – the Mayor reopened the Park and the Karori Park clubrooms in May after both have been totally redeveloped. We had a wonderful opening day, and it great to have the Phoenix represented in the Celebrity match by Ricki Herbert and Terry Serepisos. As the organiser, I was pleased with the way it was enjoyed by all.

There remains some minor work to do such as completing planting, developing a picnic area, the Medical Centre and Rotary have a fitness trail planned. The Park is very popular with casual users, and the café is much appreciated by visitors. Surface drainage was a problem during winter. The reason is that with heavy vehicles on the soil for so long and the topsoil being stockpiled for much longer than anticipated there is no organic material in the soil and it needs to be aerated (moleploughed) and fertiliser spread. This work has been largely completed and will be repeated before the next winter season.

Artificial turf – Anyone who plays winter sport or who’s children play winter sport will know how frequently matches are cancelled when the weather turns wet especially for junior players. Training is even worse affected. Wellington City has limited grounds capacity and this is likely to be exacerbated by increasing population. I believe the solution is to provide a number of well located artificial turf pitches around the city over the next few years. The Mt Albert hockey stadium shows the model.

Indoor Stadium – Council has got this major decision wrong !

Council decided in June 2007 by 12 votes to 3 (myself, Cr Pepperell and Cr Armstrong) to build a 12 court stadium at Cobham Park near the airport. It is budgeted to cost $46 million cash and occupy suburban centre zoned land worth $15 million.

There are three key problems with the decision

· The location is wrong

· There has been inadequate assessment of the costs by councillors. Getting on with it seemed more important to most than getting it right.

· Councillors refused to consult when the two location options were worked up despite the scale of the decision.

The location is clearly far inferior to a Port location. It will generate a significant amount of traffic on already congested roads. It cannot meet the needs of the 2000 people playing business house sport currently running in Sheds 1 and 6 on the Waterfront. It won’t add to the vibrancy of the central city.

In contrast Council officers worked up a number of different options for the Port. 12 court options were priced at $65 to $82 million. 8 court options from $40 to $52 million. Another $ 7 million would cover 7 courts at Hataitai.

In my view the $40 million for the Port plus $7 million for covering courts at Hataitai is a superior option to the Council’s 12 courts at Cobham Park and markedly cheaper given the land value.

Cobham Park

Port

12 courts in one location

8 courts at the Port. Covering 7 at Hataitai. Total 15 courts.

$61 million

$47 million

Doesn’t accommodate waterfront business house sport

Could accommodate waterfront business house sport

Would you like to be consulted on it ? I’d appreciate your feedback. If you think Council’s got it wrong please tell your councillors and your prospective councillors.

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