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THURSDAY MARCH 21, 2024
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Artificial turf call Albert Park into artificial turf a long shot and unlikely to even be considered for another five years. The papers released to The News, sent in a councillors’ weekly mail out, include a Waikato Artificial Turf Study completed by Visitor Solutions who were engaged by Sport Waikato on behalf of Waipā and Hamilton City Council. The report says Hamilton will soon need three artificial turfs at Marist, Gower and Korikori parks. In Waipā the need is not as great – it recommends no development “at this time” - but a future location for one is at Tom Voyle
Park in partnership with Cambridge High School. No details about the turf report were A leading Waipā sports organisation included in a review considered in wants the district council to convert some of December which recommended Waipā take its playing fields to artificial turf. over management of its 17 sports fields from Details of Te Awamutu Sports Club’s clubs and organisations. request to the district council are contained Te Awamutu Sports’ lease at Albert Park in confidential councillor briefing papers runs through to 2027. released to The News under a Local Pirongia’s Clare St Pierre told councillors Government Official Information and at an extraordinary Strategic Planning and Meetings Act (LGOIMA) request. Policy committee meeting last week she But the council’s decision last week to was concerned at the big reduction in sports strip $86,480 in sports fields improvements fields spend. out of its budget because of financial “I’d rather see the sports fields improved constraints makes the plea to turn parts of than perhaps more investment in some of those other reserves. “At our last Long Term Plan we got some really strong feedback from our community that the sports fields were in a poor state and crying out for some investment,” she said. Community Services manager Brad Ward said while there were still some operational expenses in the budget for the two recently upgraded fields at John Kerkhof Park in Cambridge, there was nothing more planned in the short term. Staff had been in discussions with clubs to improve fields but that would now be a long term discussion, he said. In the mail out last year, Ward said he was sharing the artificial turf report – completed in July - in confidence because there were a lot of moving parts and scenarios which needed to be carefully considered. The report was not for distribution but was discussed with Te Awamutu Sports so the club understood the study’s finding. The report said artificial turf was “not the only tool in the toolbox” and recommended a mix of field types including soil, sand dressed, sand carpet, hybrid and artificial. !" #$%&'(')*"$+), -./0()1%2")3&%44)35%6")#7) It noted Tauranga was finding it difficult !" enough water on its fields over A6(/B".)CDCE)=++'" 89:;&&)<=2<)>)8?&&)$=7"), to 9@get summer which led to grass die back and Rugby players have enjoyed the artificial turf at Auckland’s Macleans college for several seasons. Photo: Teamturf. slower investment through winter. The By Mary Anne Gill
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Clare St Pierre
Brad Ward
council there was planning artificial turfs in key locations to address the issues. The report’s authors met on site with various sporting organisations and completed 16 sports field visits in Hamilton, Cambridge and Te Awamutu. Shortfalls of sports fields were larger in Cambridge than in Te Awamutu, Pirongia, Kakepuku and Maungatautari with soccer clubs across the region needing more space. Most Waipā sporting clubs perceived they had field quality issues. The visit to Albert Park showed signs of pressure on the number one soil-based field with the condition attributed primarily to use management and maintenance levels. “Evidence exists to indicate that both the Waipā and the Hamilton field networks are under stress,” the report found. It recommended moving to a more centralised managed network to control field use, something which Ward in December convinced Waipā councillors was crucial, but is now on hold. As part of responding to Good Local Media’s complaint to the Ombudsman about Waipā withholding information from The News, the council provided the weekly mailout after reviewing its reasons for doing so. The Ombudsman is investigating and reviewing other information the council withheld from Good Local.