A public excluded meeting for the Cromwell Community Board tomorrow will talk about the governance structure for the town centre project.

The Central Otago District Council decided in May a report needed to come back to the board on where the governance oversight sat - the council or the community board.

Board chair Anna Harrison said the aim of Wednesday’s meeting was to keep the board in the loop about the structure that has been set up for them moving forward.

Cromwell's town centre project will be discussed behind closed doors at tomorrow's community board meeting. PHOTO: File

“The board will be feeding local voice into decision making so that the project can be progressed and included in the 2025 [Long Term Plan] LTP process. It is a project largely driven by council, but they will continue to work in a close partnership with the board and other stakeholders.”

Council approved the next stages of the detailed design for the Cromwell Town Centre project in May, but decided as a result of the current economic climate and the increased cost of building the town hall, it would consult with the community in the Long Term Plan (2025-34).

In a separate resolution, the council also decided that negotiations for property purchases for the project should cease until the various options for the town centre were worked through and approved by the council, and that those options would form part of the LTP.

The Cromwell Town Centre project is part of the Cromwell Masterplan that commenced in 2018, which approved the process, funding and procurement approach for the project. 

Four workstreams were identified - the spatial framework, the Cromwell Memorial Hall, now underway, the town centre and the civic facilities.