Sports ground charges review

By Frank Neill

A collective of Wellington sports organisations say Hutt Mayor Campbell Barry “reneged” this week on an election promise to independently review the council’s sports ground charges.

However the Mayor has refuted the allegation made by the sports organisations.

“We said we were going to do a review – we’re now doing a review,” Mr Barry says.

In an email to the Affordable Sports campaign in July last year, Mayor Barry said he was “happy to agree in principle [to an independent review] at a regional level.”

Hutt City Councillors Brady Dyer, Josh Briggs, Keri Brown, Karen

To the Editor

Morgan, Glenda Barratt, Gabriel Tupou, Naomi Shaw and Andy Mitchell also made election promises to review the fees, making up 9 out of the 13 people on the council.

This week the Mayor cut in front of those councillors, emailing the Affordable Sports campaign saying he would only “consider these matters as part of our own wider review into sports grounds”.

In short, the review would not be independent, and would be tacked on to an existing wider review of council facilities, which could take years.

Sportspeople in the region would be justified in thinking the Mayor pulled the wool over their eyes during the election, Capital Football CEO Richard Reid says.

Letters on issues of community interest are welcomed. A maximum of 150 words please. They must be signed and a street address provided to show good faith, even when a nom de plume is provided for publication.

The editor reserves the right to abridge letters or withhold letters from publication.

Car parks lost

In last week’s “Wainuiomata News” we published a letter to the Editor from Dorothy Gallagher. In her letter she asked why eight of the car parks in the area behind the community centre had been converted for the sole use of electric vehicle charging stations. She also asked if there was any plan to provide more car parks in this area to replace the eight that have been taken.

This letter was referred to Hutt City Council around four days before the paper’s deadline.

The council has replied, and the reply arrived after the 10 May paper had gone to the printer.

This is the council’s reply:

“Thank you for your letter expressing your frustration with the new electric vehicle charging stations at the Wainuiomata community hub.

“We understand the charging stations mean that there are fewer carparks for conventional vehicles, and that can mean it’s harder than usual to find a parking space.

“They are a critical way for council to encourage people to use EVs so that we can reduce transport emissions in Lower Hutt, which allows us to respond to the impacts and risks regarding climate change.

“It shows it was an empty promise, made to satisfy sportspeople so he could walk back into his seat at the head of the council table.

“Campbell Barry has essentially double-crossed sportspeople in Lower Hutt.

“He’s also cut off any chance of the other councillors making good on their promise,” Mr Reid says.

“We’re conducting a review that will include looking at the affordability of sport in the Hutt,” Mayor Barry says.

“This includes sports ground fees.

“We are also doing this review to understand issues around access, sustainability and equity. Both our Chief Executive and I have advised Richard Reid of this,” Mayor Barry says.

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“There is an increasing number of people with EVs, including the elderly and those using the library.

“The decision to designate those carparks to EVs was consulted on in the lead up to council’s Long Term Plan for 2021-31, which was formally approved in June 2021.

“There was strong support for EV charging stations in Wainuiomata, and their installation was recently completed.

“When revitalisation of the Wainuiomata Hub is complete, there will be 17 regular carparks, eight parks with charging ports for EV’s and four disability carparks in the immediate area.”

Civic award nominations open

Nominations for the 2023

Lower Hutt Civic Honours are now open. The Civic Honours celebrate outstanding volunteers in the community by recognising their service to others.

Awards are presented in seven categories: sistently demonstrates qualities of compassion and service to a community organisation or a variety of volunteer activities. provement and enhancement of participation in cultural affairs, including heritage, music, and the arts. improvement and enhancement of the educational and social development of others, including children and youth or both. leadership role in improving or revitalising the environment or both. and empowers youth activities and development. - hances the health and wellbeing of the community. outstanding voluntary community service for someone aged

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15-25 years old.

The Awards are an opportunity to highlight those who have made long standing contributions to our communities, Lower Hutt Mayor Campbell Barry says.

“There are so many people who give their precious time to making Lower Hutt a better place to live.

“The Civic Honour Awards recognise the vast range of volunteers we have in our city, who often go about their incredible work over many years with little recognition,” Mr Barry says. “We need residents to identify and nominate the volunteers who go above and beyond everyday, and whose work has made a positive difference in our city and our people.

“Making a nomination helps us identify and celebrate the positivity that happens every day in Lower Hutt,” the Mayor says. Nominations can be made on the Hutt City Council website at: hutt.city/civicawards, or forms can be collected from the Wainuiomata Library or the front counter of council’s administration building at 30 Laings Road.

Nominations close at 5pm on Sunday 18 June.