Waikato/Bay of Plenty granted time extension

Friday, 6 May 2011

Waikato/Bay of Plenty has been granted an extension of time until early September to confirm it has the funding in place to develop a national cycling centre of excellence.

In April, SPARC announced the Waikato/Bay of Plenty bid, developed by the Home of Cycling Trust, was the preferred tenderer to develop the centre, from a short list of three.

SPARC, BikeNZ and the Home of Cycling Trust then entered into negotiations on several aspects of the project including technical and commercial details, construction and funding.

SPARC Chief Executive Peter Miskimmin says the Home of Cycling Trust has met every requirement, apart from confirmation of full funding, as that is reliant on council funding processes.

He says the trust requested more time to allow their funding applications to go through the appropriate local and regional council processes.

``This is not unexpected as the trust signalled in its tender documents, as did other bidders, that they will need time to do this,’’ Miskimmin says.

``We have agreed to the extension of time as there are council processes which need to be respected and cannot be short-circuited. This also allows for community buy-in.

``The trust has worked to secure a mix of funding, and it needs to determine whether council funding will be a part of that.”

The time extension is until early September, with the exact date yet to be determined.

Miskimmin says the two other regions on the short-list – Auckland and Palmerston North – have been asked to remain on stand-by for the extended timeframe.

``SPARC and BikeNZ had hoped to be able to announce the successful tenderer today. However, the national cycling centre of excellence will only be built once, so we need to ensure that the right decision is made,’’ Miskimmin says.

``When the national cycling centre of excellence is built, it will be a huge asset for New Zealand and for BikeNZ’s development of the sport across all its disciplines, and it will also provide incredible facilities for local people to enjoy,’’ he says.

The Waikato/Bay of Plenty proposal includes a velodrome at Cambridge built to Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) standards, world acclaimed mountain bike (MTB) trails at Whakarewarewa Forest, Rotorua, a new BMX track at Cambridge, as well as access to roads with low traffic volumes for road cycling.

The Government is providing a $7 million cornerstone investment to develop the cycling centre of excellence, which will be part of a network of world-class facilities around the country.

Last year the Government announced plans to work with partners to develop a national cycling hub, as part of a major investment in, and re-shaping of, high performance sport. The cycling centre of excellence will be part of a network of high performance facilities the Government is investing in which also includes the re-development at the Millennium Institute of Sport and Health (MISH) in Auckland, and regional New Zealand Academy of Sport feeders in Dunedin and Wellington.

A tender process to decide where the cycling centre would be built started in October last year. Proposals had to meet a number of requirements, including the development of a world-class velodrome and support facilities, and sound ownership, operational and funding models.

ENDS

© Scoop Media