Decision on council land swap due

It will be another week before the outcome of a proposed land swap between the Marlborough District Council and the Clubs of Marlborough to house Blenheim's planned new Civic Theatre is known.

Marlborough mayor Alistair Sowman suggested this week the council swap land it owns on the western side of the Clubs of Marlborough and Marlborough Convention Centre complex with the clubs-owned Marlborough Club on the eastern side of the complex.

Mr Sowman has come under pressure from the Marlborough branch of the Returned Services Association, which occupies the western end of the complex, and others, over plans to build the $17 million theatre next door.

Mr Sowman, who promoted the land swap as a way to reach a compromise, said yesterday he did not yet know whether the Clubs of Marlborough supported the idea.

A meeting between Clubs executive committee members, Mr Sowman and council chief executive Andrew Besley will take place on Monday.

The Clubs of Marlborough will then meet with its members on Wednesday night before telling him of their decision, Mr Sowman said.

Clubs of Marlborough president Murray Mills yesterday declined to comment before the meeting with Mr Sowman and Mr Besley.

Meanwhile, Mr Sowman said his land swap suggestion had galvanised some of those wanting the theatre to still be built at the western end of the complex.

"Those people have been a bit more vocal. I've been told to buck-up and show some leadership [but] I thought that's what I was doing by trying to find a compromise," he said.

However, he did not regret the move.

"I think it needed to be done. We were making very little progress with [those opposed to the site], this gives another option ... we need to explore that."

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