Questions over how community opinion shifted on the future of the Roxburgh Entertainment Centre were aired publicly at Central Otago District Council’s meeting on Wednesday, with a Teviot Valley resident challenging the way council gathered feedback. 

Gill Booth, a member of the Teviot Valley Community Board, used the public forum to question why polling results appeared to swing from strong support for rebuilding on the original Scotland Street site to majority backing for exploring alternative locations. 

“I just want to know how this vote has changed so substantially,” Gill asked. 

She told the mayor and councillors she had carried out her own informal street poll in early November, speaking to 77 people over three days.  

Of those, 66 supported rebuilding the hall on its original site, while the remainder wanted other locations investigated. 

Gill said she later understood council’s own polling initially showed similar results, before shifting significantly after a public meeting held in the valley. 

She raised concerns about the reliance on online voting and limited drop boxes, saying the approach did not give everyone in the valley an equal chance to participate. 

“If you want to reach people in the Teviot Valley, you put a piece of paper in their letterbox,” she said. 

Gill said she had offered to carry out a paper-based poll herself, delivering and collecting forms across the valley. 

Teviot Valley councillor Curtis Pannett said the change in results reflected people hearing directly from council staff at the public meeting and then having the opportunity to respond. 

He said voting before the meeting showed approximately 95 per cent support for rebuilding on the same site, but that changed after residents had more information and a chance to engage. 

Mayor Tamah Alley said there was no predetermined decision to move the hall and no “foregone conclusion” about its future location. 

She said council had provided multiple ways for people to give feedback, including in-person meetings, online surveys and drop boxes, but could not compel residents to take part. 

“We can’t make people give us feedback,” Tamah said. 

Tamah also rejected suggestions council could easily deliver letters to every household, saying the cost would be significant. 

“We are not in a position to send a letter to every resident of the Teviot Valley at $3 per letter,” she said. 

She told Gill the council would be entering “very dangerous territory” if it were to present a further poll because someone did not like the results of the first.

She said the decision made late last year was to explore other options, following a recommendation from the Teviot Valley Community Board. 

Gill acknowledged she had supported setting aside funding to complete that investigation. 

Another public meeting has been scheduled for February 5. 

Curtis said he was “aware that people like the in-person form of communications”. 

“That’s why we’re holding another public meeting very close to the last one even though we don’t have a lot to update on.”

The Roxburgh Entertainment Centre was destroyed in a fire almost one year ago.

Read more: Council approves Roxburgh site investigation after push to stay put

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