Community Centre Background to Funding the Redevelopment

15 November 2018

Following on from the Meadowbank Community Centre user group meeting held in early October 2018, we have sought to clarify the history on funding decisions to redevelop the community centre (there is a long history!) and also sought to better understand the decision to work with Panuku (Auckland Council’s development arm) and a private development partner to fund the rebuild. According to this article written in 2012 the community raised funds for a community centre in the 1980s and the building is now approximately 75 years old. Carmel Claridge of the Orakei Local Board has kindly put together some background information below on these funding decisions.

We will keep you updated on progress and consultation with this significant build, and are very pleased to see planning on a better fit-for-purpose space being available to our community after decades of delays.

Background to Funding Meadowbank Community Centre Redevelopment

Few would argue that the current state of the current Meadowbank Community Centre is not up to standard. The cost of constant repairs on an old, and rapidly depreciating building are now becoming prohibitive. Previous Orakei Local Boards have lobbied to the Governing Body of Auckland Council for the required funding for an upgrade for the Centre for many years.

In 2012 Auckland Council voted for $2.75 million of funding to be allocated for the redevelopment of the Community Centre through the Council’s 2016/2017 Long Term Plan. Unfortunately this funding did not come to fruition.

In 2014 the Orakei Ward Councillor at that time, Cameron Brewer, tried to persuade his colleagues around the Council table to bring that funding forward to 2014/2015. Unfortunately, not only did the majority of Council vote not to do so, the funding was pushed out even further to 2020. It is highly unlikely, given the escalating costs of building materials and inflation, that by 2020 this amount of this funding would be sufficient to build a new Centre.

The current Board was therefore left with a situation where they had a structure in a very poor state, with insufficient resources within their own budget for a renewal, having to wait until 2020 for Regional funding. Funding which could continue to be deferred. An assessment report on the building’s condition indicated that it was currently not ‘fit for purpose’ – and the Board had concerns that there was a very real prospect of this asset deteriorating to the extent where it would be deemed non-service. Should a Council property be deemed non-service through Council’s internal processes, it can potentially be removed from the Local Board’s governance by the Governing Body of Council and passed over to Panuku Development Auckland (Council’s development arm) The current Board was not prepared to take the risk of losing this important community asset.

An optimization process whereby the ownership of the site is retained by Council but developed by Panuku, in conjunction with a private partner is the key to obtaining the required funding needed for the Centre and securing the site for the future. The Board’s vision is for a mixed use development with community facilities and Board offices on the ground floor, with housing above. The community facilities will be designed to accommodate a mixed used of new and existing community services. This will enable the Centre to be better used by the wider community.

The decisions to enable commencement of the process to redevelop were made by the Orakei Local Board at its September Business Meeting after long and careful consideration of all options that were available to us. We have complete confidence that those decisions we have made are in the best interests of our communities, and will deliver a new purpose built community facility to our constituents that will stand the test of time. It is anticipated that the sale of the airspace for housing above the ground floor facilities will enable this much needed development for our community to be provided on a cost neutral basis.

Well before any building work starts, the public will have ample opportunity to provide their input into how they would like their Centre to look and what aspirations they have for the types of services they would like to see delivered.

Carmel Claridge – Deputy Chairman

Orakei Local Board