One council quango to rule them all. That’s the option councillors adopted after a report showed one in two – 50 percent – of South Wairarapa’s residents are involved or connected with sports, recreation and leisure groups, clubs and organisations across the district.
It also revealed a shortage of playing grounds and of club and meeting facilities to support and nourish those thousands of participants.
Mayor Martin Connelly was the one dissenting vote when councillors approved $161,200 in funding “towards the delivery of a single South Wairarapa sports and recreation service,” at a mid-March Strategy Working Committee meeting.
In front of the committee was a 30-page report proposing a district-wide “delivery model” for sports and recreation – a project currently delivered by mainly volunteer-powered clubs, informal groups, schools and some regional bodies and agencies.
The report was the result of input from the district’s sports and recreation clubs and groups which indicated sport and recreation impact at least half of South Wairarapa 11,000-odd residents.
“This (project) will impact a hell of a lot more people than anything we give away in funding grants,” Greytown Ward councillor Alistair Plimmer told the meeting.
Mayor Connelly said the proposal was a problem when residents want the council to make savings. The rest of the body approved all five of the report’s recommendations, notably the two-year funding allocation “towards the delivery of a single South Wairarapa Sports and Recreation service.”
Also agreed: the council’s chief executive “seek provisional expressions of interest from interested entities for the delivery of a single South Wairarapa sports and recreation service.” In other words, volunteers to work on developing the proposed “service.”
Chief executive Janice Smith said the initial two-year funding tranche amounted to “nought-point two seven percent (0.27%) of council’s budget.”
Meeting funding targets is the number one barrier for growth for South Wairarapa clubs, the report said, with facilities maintenance and increasing overhead costs the biggest financial burden.
“These impact on the three key barriers to participation; time, cost and travel, and club’s and group’s ability to attract and retain volunteers.”
In the last three years 59.5% of the district’s clubs grew by up to 49%, while 10.8% had growth of more than 50%. “Football, rugby, hockey and college (sports) are at venue saturation, having to frequently cancel practices to save fields for games, or re-coordinate participants and teams to other venues at short notice. A number of facilities are not up to standard to support multiple sports codes and the increase in participation,” the report notes.
The clubs reported their two biggest challenges for meeting funding targets are facilities upgrades and increasing overhead costs, while growth in demand “will continue to exacerbate these issues, and impact on the top three barriers to participation, which are time, cost and transport.” Several clubs report difficulties attracting coaches, umpires and volunteers, and some clubs are considering not growing for this reason, while those who want to participate in sports at a high level often must travel to Wellington.
“The current sports and recreation system is working at capacity. Costs of facilities, overheads, affiliation, equipment and travel fees are only expected to increase,” the report said, warning that “this will likely result in decreased volunteer recruitment and retention while impacting clubs’ ability to maintain facilities and programmes”. Councillor Pip Maynard signalled another area of concern. The “cultural side” of community activity and involvement “we’ve never really touched on.”
The report and its plans didn’t come out of the blue – but were the result of a 2023 agreement to investigate a “district-wide delivery model for sports and recreation activities.” Already more than 100 sports and recreation/leisure groups have been involved in providing input for the project.
The proposed single district-wide body, with access to shared governance and financing, is seen as freeing club leadership to focus less on fundraising and financial management, and instead develop better grass-root programmes and retain members.
The report also suggests a wider remit for the service.
“We consider it likely that this is a bigger issue and not limited to South Wairarapa. There is no Sports and Recreation Strategy to create a shared vision, goals and plan for the three Wairarapa Councils or (even) for South Wairarapa,” it notes.
