Submission in Favour of a Multi-Purpose Sports Facility at Ian Galloway Park

To the Wellington City Council and the Ian Galloway Park Draft Plan Consultation Team,

This submission is made jointly on behalf of the Karori Hockey Club and the Karori Junior Hockey Club. These clubs are made up of 130 players in Junior Club and 105 players in the Senior club, representing 24 teams in total. Supporting these players are the past and present family and friends who contribute to making this sport in the Western Suburbs possible.

We welcome the Wellington City Council beginning the process to consider the vision for the future state of Ian Galloway, Appleton and Wilton Park. We consider that the Western Suburbs access to sporting facilities has been historically underserved. More recently, the loss of the former Teacher’s College playing surfaces and indoor facility, and the pending closure of Cardinal McKeefry School has affected how Western Suburbs sporting clubs can provide adequate training and playing opportunities to players. These events have restricted clubs ability to provide playing and training opportunities because of the shrinking number of suitable surfaces available. We ask that serious consideration is given to future plans, with particular attention drawn to the declining situation facing sporting facilities that are traditional opportunities to provide positive sporting pathways for young girls (Hockey & Netball).

This submission is made with the intention requesting that this sport and the community that supports is it heard and considered. It also aims to ask for consultation to be widened to include Hockey when deciding on the future of Ian Galloway, Appleton and Wilton Park.  We believe a considered, future proofed plan can accommodate many sporting and recreational codes with Ian Galloway Park as a hub for the community.

We encourage the vision to be more aspirational for these spaces, with particular emphasis on the potential for Ian Galloway Park to be an enhanced and significantly better utilised asset that serves the Western Suburb communities for generations to come. We encourage the vision to look beyond the perceived fiscal and technical limitations that the Wellington City Council are currently presented with, and allow for a long-term vision that can be achieved in time, with the support of the groups and private & community funding initiatives.

We are supportive of the needs of the codes in the draft plan to be met and have reached out to many of the representatives from these codes to seek alignment. However we are not supportive of the draft plan as it is currently proposed. We believe there is space that future-proofs for a vision that includes a number of different codes. We believe this draft plan as proposed is anchored from the challenges of today’s council situation, but encourage the plan to allow for a future with different circumstances and leadership.

We acknowledge the very real and valid concerns of residents around rates increases and affordability. However, we still want to ensure these real community needs are heard by elected officials and council officers, and contrasted against the needs of significantly larger scale initiatives currently planned for. We believe the decisions made as a result of this consultation can allow for the community to mobilise, fundraise and plan for future generations beyond when these concerns have abated. Wellington must still look to a more positive future.  

The Karori Junior Hockey Club ask for consideration for the provision of a multi-purpose playing surface at Ian Galloway that can accommodate the needs of the hockey community in the Western Suburbs, whilst providing for other sports (e.g.  Netball, touch rugby, baseball, football) to also utilise the surface. In making this ask, we draw attention to the current restrictions that hockey in the Western suburbs currently contends with:

• There is currently no surface that exists in the Western Suburbs that can accommodate KJHC’s training or playing on an adequately sized space suited to the needs of the different age groups (Year 1-8).
• As a result, the club is restricted to coordinating access to training venues currently across seven different locations at school and halls in the Western Suburbs. The venues are all restrictive in their space and not conducive to developing the playing principles of hockey, often being netball court sized or smaller.
• The club is limited in its ability to create consistent training practices, actually operate as a joined-up club and create greater social opportunities because we are forced to operate in geographically spread sites. We would benefit greatly by having a single playing hub in a central Western Suburbs location such as Ian Galloway.  
• These seven surfaces are heavily used by other codes for training and playing (e.g. netball), and are used from 7.30am to dusk to fit the children’s training needs in. Because of the intense use and limited training slots, KJHC teams are restricted to one training session per week, and cannot provide the number training sessions it would like to facilitate development opportunities for aspiring hockey players. There are also no available lighted facilities, so training times cannot extend beyond dusk.
• Travelling to the National Hockey Stadium to play: KJHC’s designated “home” playing surface is the National Hockey Stadium (NHS), Berhampore. Most weekends, 130 children and their families, plus 100 senior players travel the up to 22.0KM return journey  (From Karori Park) to the NHS, in addition this is where senior training occurs. These are often at congested moments in the day to travel through the city.
• The above logistical challenges presents significant logistical and accessibility barriers to be able to support playing hockey (particularly for families). They have a known detrimental effect on playing numbers. A local Western Zone playing surface would significantly alleviate these challenges.
• KJHC has the desire and demand to host after school summer hockey competitions, but cannot because of a lack of suitable and available playing space. Hosting these at NHS is not feasible – it presents significant logistical challenges to travel across town, mid-week, for most working families.

For this vision to established, consideration should be given to modifying the proposed locations of proposed initiatives in order to provide for room for proposed codes, car parking and future proof the plan. These include:

• Moving the proposed play area to an alternative location, as it would be in a suitable central and stable location for a Community Sporting Hub and/or multi-purpose playing surfaces.
• Removal of the proposed smaller grass are next to the changing facilities to future proof for room of the Community Sporting Hub, playing surfaces and potential car parking.
• Consideration given to the moving of the dog park to Appleton Park, as this park is considered to be of low use for sporting activity.
• Consideration given to moving the proposed Pump Track to the Dog Park.
• To seek or publish geotechnical advice clarifying what remediation work, other than capping, would be required. Noting there is precedent for artificial surfaces preparation to including capping.  

This group intends to submit a high level drawing accompanying this submission to better illustrate an early vision for this space. As part of preparing for this submission, KJHC has consulted with the Wellington Hockey Association to seek guidance and alignment from a regional perspective. The Wellington Hockey Association has confirmed that our request for consideration of a multi-purpose surface that can accommodate hockey is in line with its strategy for community hockey development & participation. WHA is seeking to make hockey more visible and accessible in the local communities and is considering options for how to encourage greater local hockey participation. This includes considering promoting the playing of some junior hockey away from the singular location high specification, national grade hockey surfaces, with restricted public visibility. At the time of writing, a request had been made to seek endorsement from the WHA Board meeting for this submission.

We urge the Wellington City Council to give strong consideration to the inclusion of a multi-purpose sports surface for rugby, hockey, football, netball, cricket and additional codes  and recreational bodies within the final Ian Galloway Park Plan. This investment will not only enhance the Western Suburbs much needed access to closer and fit for purpose sporting facilities, but also serve as a valuable asset for the entire community, promoting health, activity, and social cohesion for years to come.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide this feedback.

Sincerely,

Blair Bradley

Karori Junior Hockey Club Chairperson