New funding will be put toward an Olympic standard skatepark at Mangawhai Activity Zone.
New funding will be put toward an Olympic standard skatepark at Mangawhai Activity Zone.
Five ambitious Northland sports facilities are set to each get a slice of a regional council development pie worth $3.8 million.
The Northland Regional Council's (NRC) first allocations of the Regional Sporting Facilities Rate (RSFR) will go to Sportsville Dargaville, Sportsville Kaikohe, Mangawhai Activity Zone, Kaitaia's Te Hiku Sports Hub and the Pohe Island Sports Hub in Whangarei.
The grants range from $100,000 to $1.8 million.
The fund is created from the NRC's second generation targeted rating — $15 per household — to benefit sports facilities prioritised in the council's Northland Sports Facilities Plan.
The first generation of the rate began in 2008 to pay for the redevelopment of the Okara Park stadium, which is now fully paid.
Sport Northland chief executive Brent Eastwood described the new rate as a ''game changer'' by providing a massive boost for developing quality regional sports facilities.
Brent Eastwood. Photo / John Stone
First off the block, prioritised in the Long Term Plan 2018/28 process, will be nearly completed Sportsville Dargaville, a multisport facility which gets $600,000 from next month.Chris Biddles, chairman of the overseeing Kauri Coast Recreational Society (KCRS), said the funding came at the ideal time.
''It will allow us to complete the fit-out but what's really exciting is we'll be able to put the lights up around the courts.''
The funding news also comes less than two weeks before the official opening of the sports hub that began with a concept and a committee in 2013, and has cost in the vicinity of $2.3m to date.
The facility, between Memorial Park and the Northern Wairoa Rugby Club, contains tennis and netball courts, fields for soccer, rugby and league, and eventually a 60s-up petanque court.
It also has changing rooms, public toilets, storage facilities for users, a canteen/coffee outlet and a ''muster'' room, Biddles said.
The largest serving of the RSFR's 2018/21 pie is $1.4m toward Te Hiku Sports Hub in Kaitaia, a $12m facility that will be used by an estimated 20,000 people.
Part of that $1.4m will be available from May 2020, with the full amount spread over three years.
Far North District Council pledged $2.56m in its 2015-25 long-term plan for design, planning and physical works, and groundwork on the state-of-the-art, all-season facility began just over a year ago.
Car parking and an entranceway are now developed.
The second stage includes an aquatic centre with a heated indoor pool, co-funded by the district council, community fundraising and a $2.8m contribution the Government announced a year ago.
Sportsville Kaikohe is in line for up to an initial $100,000 from this November.
Like its Dargaville counterpart, the multisport hub operates under an administrative body managing Lindvart Park which used by a number of clubs. Its $100,00 will fund floodlighting on the rugby fields.
The Mangawhai Activity Zone will get up to $500,000 from May next year to help, among other developments, finish an Olympic standard skateboard park.
The park is tipped to attract skate sport fixtures and training opportunities for national and international games.
The skatepark will add to the existing all-weather multisport court, cricket/soccer fields, outdoor fitness gym, adventure playground and bike and walking tracks.
Last but not least in the 2018-2021 funding round is the Pohe Island Sports Hub in Whangarei, due to receive $1.18m over two payments in 2021.
The Pohe Island plan is to build a facility on the former recycling centre next to the BMX track to accommodate all local bike clubs and Bike Northland.
Other currently homeless sports, and possibly Northland Rugby, might eventually share the site.
