Gisborne Dreams Big With Indoor Sports Facility

Friday, 11 April 2025, 8:58 pm
Article: Zita Campbell - Local Democracy Reporter

How many athletes could Te Tairāwhiti churn out of the region with a proper multimillion-dollar indoor sports facility?

Gisborne District councillors considered this question when they approved the Tairāwhiti Indoor Multipurpose Centre Business Case at an extraordinary council meeting on Wednesday afternoon.

The decision means the council will start the initial planning work for a new sports centre for multiple sports.

The business case recommended the construction of a $22.09 million three-court indoor centre (with provision for a future fourth) at the southwestern corner of the Kiwa Pools site, opposite the Midway Surf Rescue Community Hub building.

Councillors supported the centre, with Aubrey Ria saying families spent large amounts on travel costs to get kids to sports events in other regions.

“Because we can’t host a proper basketball competition... these courts will be regulation national size,” Ria said.

Councillor Rawinia Parata said as a region, “we churn out athletes”.

It would be incredible to see what the region produced with proper facilities, she said.

Gisborne has the lowest public indoor court capacity in New Zealand for its population size, according to the report.

The plan requires council funding of $6m for construction, which will be consulted on in the 2027-2037 long-term plan.

A total of $2.5m was committed from the council’s three-year plan to get it to an “investment-ready point”, which included a feasibility study, design and planning work.

The business case estimated a social return on investment of $10.60 for every $1 spent, in addition to wider community benefits and an economic return.

Whiti Ora Tairāwhiti chief executive Stefan Pishief said there had been eight attempts to fund an indoor sports centre in Gisborne since 1998 and demand continued to grow.

“So many missed opportunities with decades and decades of kōrero,” Pishief said.

He said it was generally down to funding constraints and financial challenges, but this could not keep being “a reason not to progress”.

Many smaller communities in highly deprived areas had managed to secure funding and build “amazing” facilities.

Councillor Larry Foster said it was a “travesty” it had taken so long to get to this point.

Councillor Andy Cranston said it was not just about basketball and netball, there were several different stakeholders involved.

Steve Bramley, project working group and specialist, and founding director of SGL Funding, said Gisborne was short 1.7 public courts, and has an ageing network.

The YMCA facility was more than 60 years old.

When that court retired, Gisborne would become 2.7 courts short, not taking into account population growth.

“The need is very, very real.”

He said they investigated 14 sites for the location, and shortlisted the four options of Childers Rd Reserve, Victoria Domain, Kiwa Pools Precinct and Waikirkiri Park.

He said that with the proximity to Kiwa Pools, there could be shared management facilities and swipe card access.

Additionally, the grass outside the indoor sports centre could be used for audience viewing by opening up the northern wall as a cost-effective option.

“Kapa haka came through as really important to your community, and you can never get a big enough kapa haka facility.”

He said Ben Green, manager of Tairāwhiti Emergency Management Office, joined conversations early, and the site also offered risk resilience for tsunamis by making the roof accessible to Civil Defence.

This cost could be an additional $1.69m.

Councillor Colin Alder backed this option.

Councillor Rob Telfer said he had been on the A&P show committee and the executive committee for 15 years.

Eight years ago, they went to the council, under mostly different councillors, suggesting using the 20ha of land shared jointly with Gisborne Park golf course and Rugby Park to build a multi-sport complex.

“We were told Gisborne was too small for that.”

He said since then, only “bespoke stuff” had been built.

“We could have had everything on the same site.

“I call this a bespoke facility... I’m not against this, it’s great. I just don’t think we think big enough,” he said.

Mayor Rehette Stoltz supported the plans but asked whether they posed a risk given the Government’s direction of potentially removing the wellbeing provision for councils and reducing funding caps.

Chief executive Nedine Thatcher Swann said the removal of the wellbeing provision would not prevent the council from investing in a community infrastructure.

“The funding cap may, but we don’t know what that looks like,” she said.

According to the meeting report, the next steps will be to continue planning, designing, fundraising, and exploring ownership, governance and partnerships with the view to community consultation on the council’s capital funding and net operating costs.

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