Whakatāne District Council has approved $14.9 million for renewal works at Whakatāne War Memorial Hall.

Yesterday’s council meeting saw councillors having to decide whether to bring forward a funding decision intended for next year so planned work could be carried out more cost effectively and with less disruption for hall users.

The council heard from staff that approving all the works needed for the hall now would save the council over $1 million, and up to $2 million in the long term.

A delegation from Sport Bay of Plenty and local sports groups spoke about the importance of the hall as the primary indoor sports space in the Eastern Bay.

Sport Bay of Plenty space and places team leader Duncan Pearce said the organisation had identified the hall as the number two capital development priority for the Bay of Plenty.

“Not only is it essential for Whakatāne, it is essential for the whole Bay of Plenty.”

He described the rise in interest in indoor sports codes as “astronomical”and had concerns about multiple closures of the hall having a detrimental affect on sports participation.

He drew comparison with the huge dip in sports participation during Covid lockdowns among students who were at the age where they would normally be starting new sports.

The dip followed those students through their senior school years.

“Kids will be lost from sport,” he said.

“We all know we are going to have to take a hit in order for improvements to be made to the hall for the long term,” he said.

However, Pearce said this would be preferable to disruption over multiple seasons.

He was joined by representatives of local basketball and badminton clubs.

He said this was not a full representation of the sporting codes that used the hall but not all had been able to make it to the meeting.

The hall is also used for volleyball, skating sports such as roller derby and figure skating, mixed martial arts and darts.

Basketball is among the fastest growing sports.

Tauranga City Basketball general manager Mark Rogers said his organisation had 55 teams using the hall every week.

The main concern with the hall was the floor being very slippery during wet weather because of condensation and a lack of weather tightness. New basketball hoops and a score board were priorities for the association.

Erin Green, from Eastern Bay basketball association Te Aka Poitūkohu said there were a lot more children wanting to play basketball than the group could find court space for.

Representatives from Bay of Plenty Badminton and Whatatāne Badminton Club were also at the meeting.

Whakatāne club president Peter Stoove said the club had about 160 active members, not counting casual players.

He felt levels of interest could see the club grow to between 500 to 1000 members, but he was hesitant to let that happen until more court space became available.

Bay of Plenty Badminton general manager Delwyn Cooper said the association organised school events at the hall, having to have separate sessions for different grades and for girls and boys due to lack of court space.

The work had previously been planned to take place in phases.

Hall users had been told to expect it to be closed for up to six months from next year for phase one works to be completed.

This work, budgeted for in 2024, included weather proofing the hall amongst other improvements needed to meet health and safety standards.

Funding for the second phase was to be brought before the council during next year’s long-term plan decision making for approval.

While bringing the two phases together will mean a lengthier closure than planned for next year, clubs agree this will be less disruptive than multiple closures.

Councillors were unanimous in agreeing to approve the funding, though noting the decision was inconsistent with decisions set out in the 2024-34 Long-term Plan.

Deputy mayor Julie Jukes summed up the decision, saying it made sense both from a hall users and ratepayer perspective.

“Do it once and do it right,” she said.

Community access to school courts ‘valuable but fragile’

Erin Green, from Eastern Bay basketball association Te Aka Poitūkohu, also made a separate presentation to Whakatāne District Council about the benefits of strengthening Whakatāne’s indoor court network.

In light of upcoming closures of Whakatāne War Memorial Hall for upgrades, which would put more pressure on school facilities, she sought stewardship from council to help make these facilities function as a network.

Over the past year she has been working with schools to upgrade the already existing four indoor courts and create a new half court across four Whakatāne schools.

She has spearheaded a fundraising campaign in which she worked with schools to raise $300,000 from Trust Horizon, Lotteries, Bay Trust and school boards, which has seen repair and upgrades to the school courts and has worked with the schools to form a network of local courts, which are often also used by community groups when not being used for school purposes.

She acknowledged the school leaders, funders, Sport Bay of Plenty, community organisations and council staff who supported the kaupapa, saying it had been “really cool to see everyone working together for our tamariki and rangatahi.

“Some school courts are used a good portion of the time by community groups, but schools are not resourced for this and instead do it out of good will for the community and at considerable risk and administrative effort,” she said.

Providing access to the courts created extra work for school staff, with school staff generally having to give up their own time to open up halls and make sure they are closed up at the end of the session.

“Community access is valuable, but it is voluntary and fragile.”

The council’s Whakatāne War Memorial Hall at Rex Morpeth Park has two further courts which are the backbone of indoor court provision in Whakatāne and are important for the wider Eastern Bay too.

Green also noted there were opportunities to make better use of the War Memorial Hall through small changes to booking policies and practices - such as allowing short notice bookings for trusted users and ensuring consecutive booking slots - which she said would free up more peak time availability and improve equity for emerging groups.

She emphasised that these optimisation steps are not an alternative to the necessary renewals of the War Memorial Hall or future new builds, but are additional levers that can be pressed now to increase capacity at comparatively very little cost.

She praised the efforts of the bookings team and the new digital booking and access system that had been installed in the hall and would like to see it extended to school halls, and potentially community halls.

“Council could play a role in helping lead and treating the courts as a network, while acknowledging that schools retain full authority and decision making for their facilities,” she said.

“We are a small community. This is one way to get better equity for sports in our community and to grow participation, by working together better to make the most of limited assets.”