The Government is looking into whether its thwarted $60 million Oruku centre funding can go to Whangārei Hospital.
The council (WDC) is calling for the earmarked $60 million to be spent on the much-in-need hospital after yesterday abandoning the $136 million Oruku Landing conference and event centre proposal.
A spokesperson for Infrastructure Minister Grant Robertson said Ministers were taking advice on the matter. This was expected by the end of next week.
Northland Development Corporation (NDC), the developer for the wider $250 million private Oruku Landing development in which the centre was planned, last year attracted the $60 million tagged towards the facility. They saw it as key for getting a hotel to their apartment, hotel and retail development.
NDC owner and director Barry Trass said he was extremely disappointed about the council's decision to abandon the centre and miss out on the $60 million.
Sheryl Mai said the council was pleading with the government to keep the funds in the district. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Whangārei Mayor Sheryl Mai acknowledged the major work NDC had done.
"Despite council's decision, there was universal praise for the efforts and intentions of Northland Development Corporation who took this idea to government, for government for its support of the project and for all who have worked tirelessly on the Oruku vision," Mai said.
Calling for the $60 million to instead be directed to Northland's main hospital rather than the Oruku centre was a major theme among the 5000-plus submissions WDC received during a month's public consultation - almost 80 per cent of which were against the council getting involved.
Mai said the council was pleading with the government to keep the funds in the district.
"We really appreciate the offer of government investment in our district. I urge the government to continue to spend this money in Whangārei, on the hospital that needs it more now than at any other time in the past," she said.
"Years of underinvestment have left us with a hospital where sewage runs down the insides of walls. As well as that, the hospital may face huge pressure as we open up our borders," she said.
The council voted 9-5 to abandon the Oruku centre proposal.
Mai and councillors Nick Connop, Tricia Cutforth, Shelley Deeming, Jayne Golightly, Greg Martin, Anna Murphy, Carol Peters and Simon Reid voted to abandon the proposal.
Deputy Mayor Greg Innes and councillors Gavin Benney, Vince Cocurullo, Ken Couper, Phil Halse were in favour of proceeding with the project.
Cutforth, who lead the rejection call, said the people of Whangārei had spoken loudly and clearly on what they thought council should do about the facility.
She said the $60 million Government centre funding had not gained widespread support in the submissions.
Whangārei Hospital is in desperate need of an upgrade Photo / Tania Whyte
Trass said it was ironic WDC was now seeking the tagged government funding to be diverted to the hospital when it had thumbed its nose at the money for the Oruku centre.
Trass said the council deciding against proceeding was a sad indictment.
"The Whangarei District Council decision today to reject a $60 million offer from central government organised last year, through the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF), is nothing short of a scandal," Peters said.
"Some councillors clearly have no aspirations for the present generation of Whangarei and Northland or for future generations."
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has slammed the WDC's meeting and decision.
Peters said councillors needed to realise getting money out of the government was like squeezing water out of a stone.
"To simply blow the chance of a province's lifetime is beyond comprehension," he said.
Murphy voted against proceeding. She said Whangārei ratepayers were already dealing with a 7 per cent rates rise this year. Adding extra Oruku centre rates on top of that would be a major challenge for many.
And she said caution needed to be given to sensitivity around the current financial challenges people were facing, rather than simply conceptualising the impact of the extra Oruku centre rates as simply a cup of coffee.
Couper, who voted to go ahead with the centre said the process had been an interesting journey.
He said NDC had looked at WDC's plans for the future and how they could work within those plans. They had put a lot of effort into the project and attracted government shovel-ready funding, when the council had not been successful in doing so.
Oruku Landing represented a partnership between council, government and private developers working to provide stimulus for the local economy.
This was particularly important, given the Marsden Point oil refinery was closing.
The proposal had brought the opportunity to build resilience into Whangārei which had a population that was increasing by 10,000 people every five years.
Couper said the decision councillors made was one that really went down to the wire.
He said submitters had been concerned about not having enough accurate information on which to make any decision to proceed. This had been a challenge for the council too in making its Oruku centre decision. He said this could have been better provided if the required government funding timeframe had not been so rushed.
Mai said, after the meeting, WDC would now return to focussing on the many already-funded community-requested projects already in the council 2021-2031 Long Term Plan.
These included $5 million towards the city's Hihiaua cultural centre. The funding was in three parts, the first $1 million next year.
They also included, after WDC moved out of Forum North to the council's new Civic Centre building, refurbishing Forum North. The LTP did not include funding a new lyric theatre.
