Youth and family hub pushed out of Raumanga

Te Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis.

The youth and family services hub, which has been the heart of Whangarei's Raumanga for 16 years, is being pushed out of the low income suburb.

The Pulse, which houses 33 service providers bracketed by community fields, basketball courts and a pool, will be forced to move after a Government decision to demolish the buildings and sell its site.

The Pulse is a "one stop shop" for youth and family services including mentoring, parenting programmes, education, health initiatives and government agencies. It occupied the former Raumanga Primary School site, between Whaka St and Raumanga Valley Rd, next door to NorthTec.

Landlords Ministry of Education is to sub-divide the property into three parcels, retaining the land used by He Mataariki School for Teen Parents and the adjacent daycare.

But the other two parcels would be sold off, beginning with one containing the community pool and two classrooms formerly used by Pulse providers, all of which will be demolished in March. The Pulse's remaining services will crowd into the last classroom block on a temporary lease.

Te Ora Hou, a whanau and youth development organisation, are the head tenants and manager Lou Davis said if the hub was forced to move it would be a "huge loss to the community".

"But this is where young people come on the weekends to use the basketball court and kick the ball on the field. There's nothing else like this in Raumanga," Mr Davis said.

The demolition of the pool - originally planned for September but delayed until March by the Ministry - was also a huge loss. The Pulse had invested thousands into fencing, seating, showers, changing rooms, shade sails and a barbecue and had hired life guards every summer to supervise the local families who flocked there in the warmer months.

The Pulse was now on a lease agreement which stated it could be given three months' notice. Mr Davis said there was nowhere else The Pulse could go in Raumanga. He wanted to make it clear that in terms of services and demand, the Pulse was "stronger than ever".

"I'm not saying The Pulse won't exist in the next two or three years, but the facility is looking unstable."

The Ministry of Education's head of education infrastructure service Jerome Sheppard said the Ministry could only hold land used for education.

"The other groups using the site are not education providers, so we cannot continue to hold the site for them," he said.

Mr Sheppard said theoretically, the council or another government agency could buy the site when the time came to sell.

Te Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis said the fact the Pulse had to move "stinks".

"I was there about two weeks ago and heard about the great work they are doing with young people... I would dispute that they are not providing education services. It seems they are filling a gap that those young people missed out on educationally."

Among those being forced to leave was Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu (The Correspondence School). While it was an education provider it was a sub-tenant of Te Ora Hou.

Chief executive Mike Hollings said Te Kura chose to base itself from The Pulse because of "proximity to other organisations who work with young people".

Te Kura's 10 staff would move nearer town to an office which they were also "very happy with", Mr Hollings said.