Council To Consider Millions Of Dollars In Funding Requests

Thursday, 20 June 2024, 6:05 pm
Article: Maia Hart - Local Democracy Reporter

Millions of dollars have been requested by Marlborough community groups from the local council through the long-term plan.

It has left Marlborough District Council with about a week to digest the hours of hearings they sat through, as people spoke about why their funding was important.

That didn’t include all the people who made requests and didn’t attend hearings, whose requests must be considered too.

Deliberations for the plan will take place on June 24, when the council will decide which, if any, requests it would fund or partly fund. It’s also not uncommon for ideas or requests for funding to be passed on to council staff for further investigation.

Any funding the council approves could change the council’s draft rates rise, currently sitting at 12.58%. However, that figure does not include the Sounds road repairs, which the council also needed to make a funding decision on at deliberations - which could bring the total to 12.95%.

So, what were some of the requests?

Environment

Jobs for Nature funding, a $1.19 billion programme set up as a Covid-19 recovery package, is running dry, and environment groups are seeking help to keep projects alive.

Among them were the Picton Dawn Chorus and the East Coast Protection Group.

The Picton Dawn Chorus had managed to employed eight staff with a $700,000 three-year programme funded by Jobs for Nature.

The group requested $75,000 per annum for the next three years to help fund staff wages.

The East Coast Protection group requested $20,000 for its monitoring contractor who collected data on bird breeding.

Community groups and sports

There was no shortage of community projects and groups that came forward looking for some extra cash.

The Marlborough Youth Trust sought an increase in its annual funding support from $30,000 to $40,000.

Trust manager Jo Lane told the council the funding was the “platform” from which they secured other funding support for the Youth Centre.

Link Pathway project co-ordinator Rick Edmonds asked the council to add $30,000 to its budget to maintain the 42km path between Havelock to Picton. The project started in 2005, with construction completed in 2022, bar some storm damage.

Edmonds told the council the trust was committed to looking after the pathway.

“We want it well maintained, well promoted, we want to see it well used,” he said.

“We have an incredible volunteer base with this project. Hundreds of people who are committed to looking after the pathway, but it takes more ... there are all sorts of overheads, with machinery, with tools, with vehicles, with consent fees and so on.

“We need help to fund all that.”

Blenheim ward councillor Jamie Arbuckle asked how Edmonds landed on the $30,000 figure for its yearly budget.

Edmonds said a lot of the pathway had been built for about five years, so they had a good feel for what was needed to maintain it.

The Blenheim Polo Club requested $100,000 to relocate its clubrooms from Rewi Murray Polo Park to the nearest polo field just south of the Clarence Bridge.

The Marlborough Mountain Bike Club warned cows and bikes did not mix, and asked the council to implement a stock-free zone at the Wither Hills Farm Park.

“They don’t play nicely together,” club member Neil Sinclair said.

They asked the council to spend an extra $50,000 on track maintenance in 2025 and 2026.

The Rapaura Tennis Club requested an increase in its annual grant from $15,000 to $20,000.

The grass tennis courts were also the Rapaura War Memorial grounds.

The mayor noted the club had $104,000 in reserves, significantly more than other community groups that might come forward asking for funding.

“You do very well and we don’t want to penalise you for doing very well,” Taylor said.

Club president Ben Burridge said the funds were originally set aside for resurfacing some of the courts, but now they were earmarked for other work.

“Because there is the big risk that when you lose a caretaker, you lose all those skills.

“At this stage we’re sticking with the grass, because it is such a big thing for our community and our members.”

But he said the club had significant bills this year including $15,000 mower repairs, and they were looking into a court refurbishment.

Heritage

The Havelock Museum Society requested $35000 to engage a museum manager on a contract basis.

The Flaxbourne Heritage Centre sought the release of a $250,000 grant it was promised two years ago.

The Marlborough Historical Society proposed a “reset” with the council, saying it wanted to take back Marlborough Museum’s management, and asked the council to buy the museum building it owns for $5m, which would be used to invest in heritage in the region.

Other ideas

Russell Hopkins asked the council to make improvements to the Japanese-style gardens at Harling Park.

Hopkins said with the 20th anniversary of the garden approaching, and an understanding that the delegation from Tendō - a Marlborough sister city in Japan - could be visiting in January, it was time to work on some upgrades for the area.

Aimee Payne suggested the council look into upgrading the Blenheim skate park which she argued had “huge potential” but had not had any substantial money spent on it in a long time.

When asked if Payne or others would help with a working group going forward, she said this would possible.

Stuart Barnes asked the council to consider constructing a pump track in Picton, and suggested Endeavour Park could be a good location.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ on Air.

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