The sports hall was built as a centennial project for Ashburton and we owe it to the community to try and keep it as a community asset, Rotary Club of Ashburton member John Driscoll says.
Driscoll and his fellow club members are seeking support to keep Ashburton’s sports hall for community use and have organised a public meeting next week at Community House Mid Canterbury.
David Mead, the club’s annual Bookarama co-ordinator, said Rotary was interested in keeping the sports hall, as it had been home to the club’s annual Bookarama fundraiser for about 25 years.
But the club was unable to do it alone.
‘‘We can’t afford to buy it,’’ Mead said.
‘‘I don’t know what will happen. I’d hate to think it would be end of Bookarama. There isn’t really another venue around.’’
Driscoll said the meeting was to measure if there was any community support.
‘‘We owe it to the community, the building was built in 1954 and it was built for the community,’’ Driscoll said.
‘‘If we don’t get it, well nothing is going to happen is it, but we’ve got to give it a try.’’
Rotary members are keen to hear from other regular users, or others interested in having a discussion around the prospect of keeping the hall.
District council indicated tenders would soon be sought for the hall from community groups and commercial interests. Mead was hopeful others were thinking similarly.
‘‘We don’t really know who is out there. We’re hoping there will be a few come out the woodwork and want to keep the sports hall,’’ he said.
‘‘We’re hoping to get a lot of support.’’
Driscoll said the meeting was Rotary leading a community discussion on how important this hall was to others in the community.
‘‘Is there support for the community to take it back on?” he said.
‘‘If we can get a group together that are interested in running with it, then we would try and go through the process with everyone else.
‘‘It depends if we have got enough support to do it really,’’ he said.
Earlier this year, council chief executive Hamish Riach said councillors had considered a report about the building and decided at their meeting on May 20 to put it on the open market.
“We’ve already had interest from developers and community groups wanting to buy it, so council will run a tender process in the coming months.
“There was a good discussion at the meeting about whether the building should be sold for its commercial value or sold cheaply to a community group, who would then pay to bring it up to scratch.
“In the end, council agreed to look at all tenders and evaluate them on their merit.”
Council will advertise the tender process, and advise how and when offers for the building can be submitted.
At the end of the tender process, a report will go before councillors and they will decide on the successful bid.
Council is managing existing bookings until the sports hall has been sold.
– A public meeting, hosted by Rotary Club of Ashburton, will be at Community House Mid Canterbury, Cass St, on July 16 at 7pm.
