Déjà vu as funding cuts threaten pool, skate park and sports fields

Thursday, 7 November 2024

Max Olijnyk has been lobbying Wellington’s council for a skate park in Kilbirnie for eight years.

It was for all the teenagers who loved to skate, he said.

The skate park, approved for $5.64m funding in 2022, is one of 14 projects mayor Tory Whanau announced as on the block to be cut in the revised long-term plan.

By reviewing the projects, Whanau stuck by her promise to not increase rates, or cut social housing or critical climate action, and to fix the water issues.

“I acknowledge some of these projects are strongly supported by their communities and we will fully engage and listen to them throughout this process,” she said in the statement.

But councillor Nureddin Abdurahman disagreed with the approach, when “the figure on the shortfall changes weekly”.

“The mayor needs to slow down and allow the council to look at all the information on the table.”

From councillors being told there would be no impact on rates or levels of service when the idea of the airport shares sale first floated, to council documents on the recent vote revealing the cuts could be between $400m to $600m, he said there was no concrete advice.

“It is senseless threatening cuts to community services when we still do not have clear information on whether they are needed.”

It is not the first time community projects have been sitting ducks. This time last year councillors fought to save their pet projects, as the council looked to save $100m a year in its ballooning budget.

Olijnyk, the Wellington Skateboarding Association president, was “incredibly disappointed” to learn his dream project could be killed off.

The plan to transform an empty lot into a community hub with a green space and a skate facility was ready to begin construction next year.

“It would be a real shot in the arm for Wellington. There's not a lot going on for young people here.”

Also on the list is $13.2m Grenada North Park ‒ a sports field that becomes muddy during the winter months ‒ and has needed an upgrade for more than a decade.

For Tawa AFC football club, they are lucky to play on the pitch for two months before it floods and the council closes it down.

After that, the only field they can access is after 8pm, leaving the juniors to play at the local schools, which vice president Richard Mowbray said was “a constant battle of juggling and trying to get access”.

The project was “a can that’s been kicked down the road for years”. It was almost ditched last year to address the state of the council’s finances.

When Mowbray heard the update, which said it would explore the “possibility of doing smaller improvements now and deferring major improvements to outer years”, he was not surprised.

He wanted clarification on what the smaller improvements would look like, as the only way to improve the pitch was to upgrade its drainage system ‒ a significant cost.

Capital Football operations manager Blair Duncan said it was disappointing to see the project in danger, especially given the club’s 20% growth in players over the past year.

“It will make things a lot tighter … we may be pushed to play on grounds that need a little bit more time to recover.”

For Janet Johnson, Khandallah Pool was an important part of her childhood.

She spent her days there swimming, having picnics, playing on the playground and walking to the nearby ice cream shop.

In her view, not fixing flooding from the nearby stream “could not and would not happen”, as the pool was “the fabric of Khandallah” and had a beautiful heritage.

The pool, open this summer to celebrate its 100th birthday, was under a technical review for affordability after it was flagged a no-go when costs climbed to $11.7m.

Save Khandallah Pool member Maree Newson said the council’s decision to re-look at costs earlier this year was “a really sensible solution”.

Newson did not mind putting the project on hold so the city could focus on the big ticket items that needed doing.

Other projects on the mayor’s list included Begonia House upgrade, Bond Store upgrade, Huetepara Park, Frank Kitts car park demolition and landscaping for the fale male and Chinese garden, Ōtari landscape plan, suburban centre upgrades and zoo masterplan. Cycleways are also in the line of fire.

Councillor Diane Calvert said the mayor’s proposal was an easy solution that did not address the city’s urgent budget pressures

“Even if we cut these projects entirely, the savings would be minimal compared to the larger, more critical issues we must address,” she said.

Calvert said council should prioritise larger savings like cutting the waste management charges including organic collections, scaling back the Golden Mile, cycleways and transport priorities.