Football club standoff delays Eastbourne Village upgrade

BY ANDREA O'NEIL

Eastbourne's village redevelopment is being held up by a standoff between the council and a local football club, whose clubrooms will be demolished in the revamp.

Eastbourne's public toilets will be the first of the suburb's amenities to be overhauled in its long-term "Vibrant Village" redevelopment.

But the start date for the redevelopment has been pushed back indefinitely until an agreement can be reached with the Eastbourne Football Club, whose premises sit on top of the toilets.

Football club committee member Liz Pllu says negotiations with the Hutt City Council are not moving.

The council is encouraging the the club to share premises with the local rugby club, cricket club and the Returned and Services Association, which together form the Eastbourne Sports and Services Club, or ESSC.

The football club has rejected the idea, saying there is not enough space for it at the ESSC's premises.

"We're the biggest club in Eastbourne," Mrs Pllu says.

The football club has 350 members, and any potential clubrooms will have to incorporate numerous supporters and family members, she says.

The club has outgrown its current premises, and holds its prizegivings elsewhere, but the clubrooms are still used every day for meetings, training and storage.

The council has offered to build changing and storage rooms beside the swimming pool, which borders the club's grounds, Bishop Park.

But having separate changing and socialising facilities would mean an unacceptable a loss of identity for the club, Mrs Pllu says.

"We're all getting a bit frustrated. What we need is good communication."

Mrs Pllu's father founded the football club, raising funds and rallying volunteers to build the clubrooms in the 1960s.

The former Eastbourne Borough Council recommended the club be built above its own toilets. This led to the football club owning its clubrooms but the council owning the airspace where they are built.

The council is legally obliged to rehouse the club when the toilets are knocked down, and the club is negotiating for compensation and a rent agreement on future premises, Mrs Pllu says.

Bruce Hodgins, the council divisional manager of parks and gardens, expects negotiations to be settled in a few weeks.

He says work is likely to begin on the toilets early next year, though he cannot confirm when it will be completed.

"I don't think it's behind schedule."

The Eastbourne Community Board wants it finished by 2013.

Mr Hodgins says the football club would improve its current situation if it moved to ESSC's premises in HW Shortt Park for social events, while taking the council up on its proposed changing rooms at the swimming pool.

"Eastbourne's football clubrooms aren't being well utilised."

The football club's resistance to Eastbourne's makeover does not reflect the attitude of most Eastbourners , he says.

"Generally people are pretty happy with it."

 

Eastbourne's makeover

 

Hutt City Council's "Vibrant Village" redevelopment covers Eastbourne's main shopping street, Rimu St, and will extend down Marine Pde on either side of the wharf.

First in line for change are public toilets near the wharf.

The toilet upgrade will cost $225,000. The current building will be demolished and "modular" toilet units will be installed, self-cleaning structures similar to those on Wellington's Courtenay Place.

During the next few years Rimu St (Area 1 on the map) will get upgraded footpaths, street furniture and plants; more space for street activities; and a beautified entrance from Muritai Road.

The street will be widened to two lanes at the north end to open access to the beach.

Along the south side of the wharf a boardwalk will be built, picnic tables installed and sand dunes restored.

Bishop Park (Area 2) will get new park furniture and lighting, more accessible carparks, and have its gardens revamped.

The park will be better connected to Rimu St by a new park entranceway and path.

At Pohutukawa Park (Area 3) most of the pohutukawa will be retained, but trees in the central area will be removed to provide a wider open space. Seats and picnic tables will be installed and the fence on the seawall removed.

A new boardwalk and viewing platform will be built on the seawall.

In the shopping centre (Area 4) footpaths will be upgraded, pedestrian crossings installed, disabled carpark access improved, and the planters for the norfolk pines renewed.

The project will cost about $1 million, half of which will be provided by the council.

the council's divisional manager of parks and gardens Bruce Hodgins says the community will need to produce the remaining $500,000 through fundraising or by lobbying the council for more funding.

Pencarrow Rotary Club has offered to provide labour for the development, he says.

- Hutt News