Opinion: Major investments a boost for the local Play, Active Recreation and Sport sector.
How great it has been to see so much investment going into new facilities for the play, active recreation, and sport sector in Hawke’s Bay.
It has been brilliant to see the Government, local councils and funders supporting new and improved facilities for our Hawke’s Bay community. Once finished, we will be the envy of so many and hopefully as a result will see more tamariki and rangatahi playing basketball, volleyball, swimming or just out there having fun in our outdoors.
Recent investment announcements have seen $32 million been approved for a new 50m aquatic facility at the Mitre10 Sports Park with a further $6.4 million to expand Pettigrew Green Arena from 3 to 11 indoor courts.
The funding comes from the $3 billion set aside for shovel-ready projects in the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund announced in Budget 2020.
While our sector will be the main beneficiary, projects such as this also benefit businesses in construction and service sectors, as well as a host of supporting industries like tourism providers, accommodation and hospitality.
This announcement combined with the investment by council into destination playgrounds such as Flaxmere, Cornwall Park, Anderson Park, Wairoa Playground will see more opportunities for our young people to be active.
And it isn’t only councils and government funding these projects, Basketball Hawke’s Bay have done an outstanding job in the development of two outdoor courts at their headquarters in Marewa, an asset set to benefit so many budding basketball players.
Hawke’s Bay has for a long time had a shortage of indoor court space and this recent announcement from the Government will see sports such as basketball, volleyball and futsal as the major benefactors.
Sport Hawke’s Bay have recently appointed a Spaces and Places Lead. The purpose of this role is to support decision makers focussed on facilities – natural and man-made – that people use to be active. We have a great opportunity to leverage the recent investment and to get more of our community, more active, more often.
Over the coming 12 months, Sport Hawke’s Bay will continue to focus on supporting the play, active recreation, and sport sector as we continue to recover from the impact of Covid-19.
As we continue to move through the Alert Levels, this uncertainty doesn’t help codes in their planning or delivery of sport. Overall though the sporting community has proved very resilient though and will be up for the challenge of dealing with whatever eventuates.
While we still need young people playing sport, new facilities are a great way to help increase participation. Th New Zealand Facilities Framework states that if there are more of the sporting facilities New Zealand needs, then more New Zealanders will be enabled and encouraged to take part in sport. And that’s an outcome we would all like to see.
We will continue to focus on those less active, such as tamariki and rangatahi in deprived communities, women and girls and those with disabilities. This combined with supporting the development of new facilities, it puts us in good stead for the future to have a Hawke’s Bay community that has a life-long love of play, active recreation, and sport.
The views and opinions expressed in the following article are those of the writer and do not neccessarily reflect those of the Hawke's Bay App.
