Martinborough Town Hall Update – November 2013
Did you know that The Martinborough Town Hall Working Group are now on Facebook? This site was set up by Victoria Read to provide another means of communicating progress on the Hall research project. The focus of the project is to widen usage of the Hall by including a multi-purpose community centre. Do visit our Facebook site. Our page is linked to the SWDC website so you can access it through that website too. www.facebook.com/MartinboroughTownHall
To recap, the Town Hall is currently sitting in a dead zone of the Square and has very low utilization. The SWDC has committed $900,000 for earthquake strengthening in good faith that the community will raise the balance required to renovate it. A new group, The Martinborough Town Hall Working Group, was formed to manage the project. The Group is a subcommittee of the SWDC.
Younger members of The Martinborough Town Hall Working Group emphasised that they wanted more from the Town Hall site than just a renovated hall. They suggested that maybe facilities could be included which were more oriented towards families. This was endorsed by ideas from an open community participation meeting facilitated by Lisa Cornelissen. There was a definite desire to see the Hall become something more than it is now; that is, future development should include activities and facilities for an expanded use. The site should come alive and be part of the Square rather than sit out in isolation as it does now.
Adding a multi-purpose extension would widen the base to attract funding for this project rather than just renovation of the Hall alone.
The Martinborough Town Hall Working Group recommended that the SWDC employ community development professional Steve Bramley to look at the feasibility of the concept. Steve is an experienced leisure planner and skilled in all aspects of facility development, from business feasibility to capital funding to ownership and governance structures. He has successfully facilitated over 25 multi-million dollar community projects for Councils including Rotorua, Upper Hutt, Buller, Ashburton and Timaru.
Steve and his team, Murali Bhaskar (architect) and Audrey McLaren (analyst) began their research in August. They have interviewed a wide cross section of our community to explore how a Martinborough Town Hall Community Centre could become the future vibrant facility for Martinborough. 70 people representing 40 groups were interviewed. An early theme to emerge from the interviews was that the future of Martinborough should be about families – making Martinborough more attractive for families to live and work here, and also for families in the greater Wellington Region to visit.
It is pertinent to quote newly elected Greytown Councillor David Montgomery “…I think the council needs to focus more on how it attracts young families to Wairarapa. With population projections by 2031, median age [here] will be 50, and one in three people will be over 65. We really have to see what we can do to make sure there are sufficient people of working age, but also meeting the needs of people at that point” WTA, October 14, 2013 p3.(data from Statistics NZ Population Projections 2012). Martinborough is not immune to this trend. A vibrant community centre would make a significant contribution to family life.
Also noteworthy is that Carterton District Council has a marketing strategy that promotes it as “a place that families want to live” (Wairarapa NEWS October 16 p1).The latest Census shows it is the fastest growing district in the North Island. The Event Centre is mentioned in the mix that makes Carterton attractive for families (The Dominion Post, October 16, 2013, p1).
Future development options for the Town Hall site include the possible co-location of the Library, Plunket and Toy Library, possibly the i-site, creating a unique playground experience, improving the greater Hall area, both indoor and outdoor, to better cater for existing major events based at the Square. Also exploring what other regular community activities could be located at a future Hall Community Centre.
Co-location of community activities is not a new concept – Carterton Event Centre and the Greytown Hall are examples close to home. However the scope and cost of any community facility development must be of the right scale and mix for each community.
Having got through the community consultation process, Steve and his team are now working on concept design, feasibility and funding plans. It is expected that their report will be completed in early 2014. There will be a series of public meetings proposed to clearly outline future options.
As one interviewee said “It’s potentially a very exciting time for Martinborough and we’re very much looking forward to the findings and recommended directions”.
Winifred Bull, Communication Team, Martinborough Town Hall Working Group
