Change in management likely for Waipā sports fields

Waipā District Council has signalled it may look to take over the management of publicly-owned sports fields in the district.

Council currently leases the vast majority of its sports fields to clubs, an unusual arrangement which sees council’s role limited to mowing and spraying. It means fields are largely managed individually, rather than as part of a wider network. The arrangement is causing concern, backed up by an independent report which has found some new sporting codes are finding it difficult to use public fields at all.

The report from parks, recreation and open spaces specialists Xyst, tabled at Council’s Service Delivery Committee today, found:

• An inability of some new sporting codes to access Waipā sports fields at all;
• A shortfall of playing hours per week for winter sporting codes that will grow substantially by 2038;
• More than half of sports lighting has reached the end of its life and requires replacing to address safety concerns;
• More and more work is being undertaken by a reducing pool of sports club volunteers;
• Other users are being forced to negotiate with private sports clubs for use of publicly-owned fields.

Community services manager Brad Ward said the report was no criticism of sports clubs.

“The fact is, our sports clubs are doing huge amounts of work and have done the mahi for many, many years. We need to acknowledge and recognise that. Many have invested very heavily in their facilities, after raising the funds themselves. This is about looking to the future and addressing some very clear inequities. Everyone in our district should have equal and fair access to publicly-owned assets and right now, that’s not necessarily the case.”

In his report, Ward said a Sport Waikato survey late last year found a level of dissatisfaction amongst Waipā sports field users with only a low level of clubs believing their current facilities would meet future needs.

“If the current model continues, Council will be forced to buy new land and develop new sports fields, at huge cost. That just doesn’t make sense when we are simply not maximising the fields we already have. We also have an obligation to address issues like field lighting and turf management which, at the moment, many clubs are struggling to deal with.”

Elected members today did not commit to any immediate change, noting the staff recommendation that much more work was needed to address issues raised by clubs. Staff would now have further discussions with clubs around issues like how potential fees, charges and booking systems might work, levels of service, and clarifying privately-owned versus publicly-owned assets.

Mayor Susan O’Regan said clubs must be part of any conversation before any change was made. She did not want staff to impose any kind of new management regime without being sure of the impacts and without having sports clubs and new codes on board.

“This isn’t around penalising sports clubs that have done such amazing work on behalf of the district. It’s about making sure that, as our district grows, everyone has fair and equitable access to community assets, and that includes our sports fields.”

Staff said some clubs have leases which have expired or are due to expire by 2027. To provide more certainty they would seek to negotiate short-term (five-year) leases for those clubs early next year.