Sports field study confirms Queenstown-Wānaka imbalance
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This story was updated on Thursday, September 19, to include information provided by the council on the cost of the report
In three decades time 166 hours of sport every week will not be played in Queenstown and Wānaka unless more sports fields are created.
The figure comes from a new report commissioned by the Queenstown Lakes District Council that also confirms an inequitable provision of facilities across the district.
The 79-page report, prepared by consultants RSL, shows while demand for sports fields is outstripping supply across the district as a whole, the situation is particularly dire in Wānaka, and set to get worse.
Modelling included in the report shows 43 hours of sport a week was already not catered for in the town last year, with the figure projected to stretch out to 80 hours in 2033 and 142 hours in 2053.
Comparatively, in the Whakatipu last year, there was seven hours of sports field 'surplus', although that is projected to shift to a five-hour 'deficit' by 2033 and a 24-hour 'deficit' by 2053.
According to the report, the population balance is set to shift on each side of the Crown Range in the decades ahead - in 2023 approximately two-thirds of the district's population sat in the Whakatipu and one-third in Wānaka; by 2053 the population is projected to be more evenly split between the two.
Further fuelling demand, the 'playing age population' - five to 49 year olds - is expected to increase by approximately 64 percent by 2053 too, the report says.
The findings of the report will not be news for many - members of local sports clubs in Wānaka in particular have been flagging the problem for a while.
The report, which cost ratepayers approximately $57,000, was presented to the mayor and councillors for discussion at a workshop held on Tuesday.
It recommends a number of potential actions that could be taken to improve the outlook, including developing new fields, reconfiguring existing fields and rescheduling activities to flatten demand across the week.
However the timing of the report is far from ideal.
It is unclear what impact, if any, it will have on the scheduled adoption on Thursday of the council's Long Term Plan, which prioritises projects and spending for the decade ahead.
Investment in community and sporting facilities has been a hot topic during consultation and deliberation on the draft.
In response to a specific question in the Long Term Plan consultation document to gauge public support for bringing forward funding for such facilities, 75 percent of submitters indicated they were in favour of this, and staff have recommended this course of action to elected members.
If this recommendation is take up by the mayor and councillors, approximately $1.2 million for new sports fields at an as yet unconfirmed location in Wānaka will be brought forward for delivery between 2025 and 2027, and approximately $940,000 for two new sports fields at 516 Ladies Mile in Queenstown, brought forward by one year for delivery between 2025 and 2026.
Other spending to convert council land at Ballantyne Road in Wānaka for use by sports clubs is also proposed, but much later in the ten year plan.
Whether that is enough spend, and in the best place at the right time, is up for discussion, especially in light of the fresh data presented to elected members this week.
Council's sport and recreation manager Simon Battrick says there is no magic solution for catering to the district's sporting needs in a fiscally constrained council spending environment.
It is his view that while the council wants people to be out playing sports there is a limited funding pool and competing demands on it.
The full RSL report can be found here, as an agenda item for Tuesday's full council workshop.
Main image (Facebook/Wanaka FC): The football club in Wānaka is 'busting at the seams' at the same time the town has a 43-hour-a-week deficit when it comes to sports field availability.
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