Ruling gets ball rolling on courthouse

APPROVED: Judi Rendall and Joseph Gillard of Friends of the Carterton Community Courthouse, whose plan for phase one renovation work on the courthouse has been approved by the council.PHOTO/LYNDA FERINGA

Group is one step closer to creating community hub

The Friends of Carterton Community Courthouse (FCCC) has received the outcome it was after, following Wednesday's Carterton District Council meeting.

The council has approved the FCCC plan to complete phase one work on the courthouse building, which will include the easing of the front joinery, resetting the glazing, carpentry work to make the building watertight and the painting of the street frontages.

The FCCC plans to do this work at no cost to the council, using community grants and volunteer labour to complete the work. After the FCCC has done this work phase two of the development will be put forward to the council.

In its presentation to the council on Wednesday, member of FCCC Judi Rendall stressed the importance of having a building that could be used as a community hub.

She said that the demand from the community was there for a more intimate space than the events centre for community groups to meet in Carterton.

"People need a place to meet in the community to just sit down and talk," she said.

Convenor of FCCC Joseph Gillard said the group was looking to do the work at no cost to the council. The group met with a structural engineer on Tuesday to discuss preliminary plans.