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Community groups are becoming increasingly frustrated by what they say is Auckland Council bureaucracy and grossly inflated project costs.
Matakana Community Group (MCG) costed the refurbishment of the tennis courts at Jubilee Park on Matakana Valley Road at $170,000.
Council contractors are currently on-track to rebuild the tennis courts for around $270,000.
MCG chair Dr Simon Barclay says when the courts open at the end of June they will require a further $52,000 of community money to install a synthetic turf surface.
“Council has an initiative to empower community groups, but they are not giving us the money to spend,” Dr Barclay says.
“We have the capacity to work with local businesses and community members to provide a much better bang for our buck. The system is flawed and needs to be changed.”
Synthetic turf surfacing on the courts was part of the group’s original budget, but the funds used by Council are allocated from the renewals budget. Money for renewals can only be used on ‘like-for-like’ replacement projects.
Dr Barclay says the group had also planned to reuse existing fencing materials, and build on the existing base, but the tennis courts have been ripped up and completely re-built.
Council community facilities spokesperson Johan Ferreira says that a complete renovation of the Matakana tennis courts was needed to future-proof the facility.
“If we were to repair assets cheaply, it usually means the asset will be more expensive over time, including ongoing repair costs and, in some instances, having to completely replace the asset sooner,” Mr Ferreira says.
Matakana Tennis Club has signed a 10-year lease with Council to run the courts, and will be responsible for ongoing court maintenance.
Leigh Tennis Club president Geoff Alexander says they decided on a DIY approach to repair their ageing facilities. The club received $25,000 in Local Board grants and various fundraising efforts raised the remaining $15,000.
“Both courts were unplayable and badly cracked, but we patched the concrete and repaired the fence ourselves,” Geoff says.
“We then spent most of the money employing professionals to lay a synthetic turf surface. The total cost was around $40,000.”
Omaha Beach Community (OBC) group chair Peter Hooper says he agrees with Dr Barclay that the money would be better off in the hands of community groups.
Mr Hooper says the bureaucracy that community groups have to wade through when trying to get projects off the ground is unnecessarily time-consuming.
“We are volunteers giving up our time, yet we have to work tirelessly producing multiple reports for multiple departments and we have to keep chasing them,” Mr Hooper says.
The OBC has been lobbying for an 800-metre footpath from the community centre along Omaha Drive for the past 10 years. He says the group costed the project using the same contractors that tender for Council and Auckland Transport.
“We were able to obtain quotes at roughly half what Auckland Transport came back to us with. That’s just ridiculous.”
