Save our Greenspace

Our community is growing fast and we already have less Council-owned greenspace than other towns in our area. With Council’s help – and your support of the proposal in the Annual Plan – we can:

  • Make sure we keep the East Street greenspace for sport and recreation (and not lose it to housing).
  • Ensure the whole community, now and for generations to come, benefits from the new recreation and events centre at Kuranui.

How can you help?

There is a detailed proposal in the South Wairarapa District Council’s Annual Plan. Please read this and, if you support the proposal, help Council decide by ticking YES to ALL the boxes under 2B.

Make sure your submission reaches Council before Sunday 24th May 2020.

Documents

We have stored copies of the brochure in our library under “Issues”, but you can download your own copies here.

Download the full-page version of the brochure here.

    • Download the tri-fold version of the brochure here.

    FAQ’s regarding Saving Greenspace in Greytown for Sports and Recreation

    • The centrally located greenspace will become housing developments.
    • Any new council provided sites will take months if not years to buy and develop at a bigger cost to ratepayers.
    • Immediately, two heritage clubs will have no home ground and will fold. The Greytown Community Gymnasium and St Johns Ambulance sites will be lost.
    • Further information from the Times-Age.
    • It has been a concern for the sporting community for over 15 years with the growth in population, a resurgence in team sports and increased opportunities to participate in active recreation. For example, in recent times our Junior football club has struggled to practice and play its 16 junior teams, while sharing Soldiers Memorial park with Senior Football.
    • The Greytown Trust Lands Trust has supported Greytown Bowls and Rugby clubs by providing land for over 100 years. They have advised that this is no longer sustainable under their changed business model and want the clubs to pay market rental, irrespective of land-use. The clubs cannot survive paying market rental for the residentially-zoned land. The Greytown Community Gym and St Johns Ambulance are also located on this land.
    • Support from Greytown Trust Lands Trust has been fully removed since February 2020. Therefore it becomes critically important that this is addressed in the very near future.
    • It makes sense for the land to be owned by our council as they consider it part of their responsibility to provide enough sport & recreational space for all the community.

    Extract from SWDC 2020-2021 Annual Plan

    • Extensive research from around the world – and our very own Sport NZ – shows that facilities have to be central to ensure everyone can easily utilise the shared space and this encourages community connectedness and cohesiveness.
    • Proximity to primary school, college and retirement villages provides opportunity for regular use by those organisations and new opportunities, like a senior playground.

    https://sportnz.org.nz/assets/Uploads/The-Value-of-Sport-print-ready

    The Role of Physical Activity and Sport in Mental Health
    • A collaboration of Greytown Sport & Leisure, Greytown Rugby & Bowls Club representatives, Kuranui College Principal, Greytown Ward Councillors, The mayor and CEO have been working over the last 6 months, analysing the research, looking at other opportunities/ideas, and have come up with this proposal to help future-proof sport & recreation in Greytown.
    • A community working group in 2015 also recommended running all sport in Greytown using the existing sites at East Street, Kuranui & Kuratawhiti Street together as the recommended solution to provide sports in Greytown.
    • The independent report looking at the establishment of a new sports hub and gym, from scratch, alongside Kuranui put the development cost (without land purchase) at >$2m than the existing facility purchase price. (Global Leisure Group Community Gymnasium Feasibility Study Prepared for the Kuranui Sports Hub Project Working Group: Final Report 20 March 2019 )

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/414904/rates-rise-proposed-at-first-south-wairarapa-district-council-online-meeting

    Regarding the opportunity for a shared indoor facility at Kuranui College

    • The current Kuranui College gymnasium is due for replacement as it is a leaky building and parts of the gym have a low seismic rating that impacts the structural integrity of the building.
    • Currently, the size of the gym is not fit for purpose. The main court is half the size of standard basketball court.
    • This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the community to help develop a fit-for-purpose facility that can cater not only for all indoor sports, but also community events. The Ministry of Education will fund the majority of the facility, with the SWDC contribution ensuring the facility is full-sized.   

    The current court is 220m2, which is half the size of a basketball court (436m2). Our current court has no safety run-off at the ends or the sides.

    The proposal includes a recreational space that would be 750m2. The space would be big enough to include a full-sized indoor netball court with appropriate run-off on the ends and sides of the court (approx. 600m2)

    This would be suitable for a wide range of indoor competition sports and leagues to be held at the gymnasium. (Such as Futsal, Basketball, indoor Netball, Pilates, Badminton).

    It would also be suitable for the district to hold large community events, Cultural events like Kokomai.

    Yes! The community is effectively getting a $5m facility (if land cost is included) for $1m. The added benefit of having Kuranui College as an anchor tenant means ongoing maintenance costs are predominately met by the Ministry of Education.

    The community would have access to the facility outside of school hours to utilise as required. This could be for sporting events or leagues, as well as community events.

    • Kuranui College is the college of South Wairarapa.
    • Students who attend are from every community in South Wairarapa.
    • Kuranui plays a major role in the community through education, wellbeing and the economy.
    • Kuranui currently employs 80 staff, and has an annual turnover of more than $4,000,000 (including salaries). Much of this is invested in the local economy.
    • An infrastructure project like this would have huge benefits and create jobs alongside the wellbeing outcomes for both the students and members of the community.
    • The school roll has grown from 430 in 2018 to 556 in 2020 a 29.3% increase. The roll is predicted to keep growing reaching a maximum of 630 students by 2022.
    • This continued growth creates further investment and opportunities for South Wairarapa. 
    • Tick YES to the section 2B questions. You don’t have to fill in the whole submission form and don’t have to speak to help make a difference.
    • Make a submission to council on their website.