SAVE Our Sport spokesman Ralph Highman has given the red card to the Wellington City Council over its decision to build an indoor sports centre at Cobham Park.
In a full council meeting this month councillors voted to build a 12-court sports centre in Kilbirnie instead of on CentrePort land north of Queen’s Wharf, to replace the sports facilities in Shed One and Six on the waterfront.
“All the indoor sports players are going to be left high and dry if the Hilton Hotel is built on the Shed 1 site and the indoor sports centre is shifted to Kilbirnie,” says Highman.
“The Indoor Community Sports Centre should be an inner-city venue because there is no hope for people going all the way to Kilbirnie during lunchtime. There will be no time to get out there, play a game within an hour lunch break, and get back in time.”
Shed 1 is a five to 10-minute walk for inner city workers, and games are approximately 30 minutes long.
“If the Hilton goes ahead and the centre is shifted to the Eastern suburbs there will be no alternative for the indoor sports players but to stop playing at lunch altogether.”
Save Our Sport aims to launch a campaign against councillors who support the shifting of the centre to Kilbirnie.
“The council has to be very careful, especially with the local government elections coming up in October, when privatising public spaces like Shed 1 and 6. We are going to encourage people to vote for certain councillors and a mayor who does not support the centre moving out of the inner city. Remember there are thousands of indoor sports centre users who play each week, and they are all prospective voters.”
Highman is currently working alongside councillor Andy Foster to find an alternative solution should Shed 1 become a Hilton hotel. One suggestion is that the council “give the people back the Events Centre”, says Highman.