The Teviot community wants assurance from the Central Otago District Council their entertainment centre would be rebuilt in some shape or form.

That was the message from Teviot Valley Community Board chair Norman Dalley, who presented a report in person to the council last week.

The heritage building was destroyed by fire on Waitangi Day, and while it had been hoped to save the building’s facade, the decision was made to demolish it for safety reasons as well as the high costs involved.   

Norman said the community was expecting some correspondence from council about what next, but believed that hadn’t been forthcoming.

“Are we going to get a heritage building or a facade of equal value to accommodate 650 people?

“It’s used frequently enough to want to get some assurance that this is going to be replaced as it was. Not necessarily the same design but the fact it was an iconic building with a long history,” he said.

Teviot Community Board chair Norman Dalley fronted up to the Central Otago District Council regarding the future of the site. PHOTO: SUPPLIED

The community was disappointed there had been little or no communication from council around what the plan might be, Noman said.

“In a community that is grieving so heavily… coming from the top of the table the community is expecting engagement, that what has been lost will be replaced and how that funding might work.’’

He said conjecture was a dangerous thing, “but this is the second event in the last 10 years that has taken a lot of community resources,” he said referring to the major flooding event in 2017.

The Roxburgh Entertainment Centre has been insured for $6.5 million. FILE SHOT

Norman said he was happy to facilitate the conversation, and assured the council there would be “thousands of questions in the first 10 minutes.”

“The community does really need some direct engagement,” and this was backed by Cr Lynley Claridge who related it to a funeral where people were asking for support.

Council chief executive Peter Kelly said they were still in the process of making the site safe, and the long term plan for the rebuild was not something that happened overnight.

The building was insured for $6.5million and he said a fair amount of that would have to go towards the clean up and the new design.

He said if there was not enough funding through the Long Term Plan for a complete rebuild, they would have to look at other options.

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