The Cromwell Community Board had many questions for Central Otago District Council (CODC) staff at its meeting yesterday (Tuesday June 20), over a report on demand for sports grounds within the ward.

With the Cromwell ward’s population predicted to grow to 15,350 people by 2050, staff had begun work on looking at the future provision of open space, and engaged Global Leisure Group to carry out a Cromwell Sports Field Demand Analysis study.

Board deputy chair Bob Scott questioned if the report was needed at all, and its accuracy and inclusivity.

“There seem to be an awful lot of inaccuracies in this report,” he said. 

“We seem to have the population estimates wrong.” (The report only gave population projections for 2040, which it estimated at 8,018.)

Bob also queried why some sports types and organisations, including golf, athletics and hockey, were not included in the report. 

“I actually think this report is very flawed,” he said.

CODC parks and recreation manager Gordon Bailey said the population projections were council’s own and golf was not included as the golf club was not maintained by council. 

Board member Sarah Browne also questioned the population numbers, and whether they covered only the town or the wider Cromwell ward, to which Gordon said he would have that clarified. Sarah also felt the report did not delve deeply enough across different sports.

Previous work through the Queenstown Lakes-Central Otago Sub-Regional Sport & Recreation Facility Strategy and the Cromwell Masterplan had identified the Cromwell Racecourse Reserve as a possible open space area that could accommodate future sport code growth. 

The report writers consulted representatives from key user groups of the racecourse reserve, which covers 93.4885 hectares. 

Board member Wally Sanford questioned whether there was scope to consider wider than the racecourse reserve.

“The report seems as if it’s half about the current sports needs and also half about the operations and usage at the racecourse,” he said. 

“If you saw some good low-lying land for example, council might want to go for that to put some sports fields on.”

CODC planning and environment executive manager Louise van der Voort said the report was in response to earlier board indications.

“A year or so ago, the board indicated to us that they were interested in what the racecourse might look like,” she said. Council staff had conversations with racecourse representatives, she added.

“At that time, we decided we needed to look at that holistically.”

Gordon responded: “It’s not about every sport. It’s about ‘Do we need a chunk of land for sport?’”

The board received the report, as recommended by staff.