What's New
4 August, 2021
Site up for grabs as rub of the green goes against bowlers
Expressions of interest will be sought later this year for a new community use of the site soon to be vacated by the Takapuna Services and Social Bowling Club.
The club’s lease was not renewed by Auckland Council due to dwindling membership, although the few remaining bowlers were keen to stay on. They have been told to vacate the site by the end of October.
Council officials told a Devonport-Takapuna Local Board workshop last week that the availability of the bowling green at 2 Mary Poynton Cres – next to the former RSA, now youth hub Shore Junction in Northcote Rd – would be advertised in October or November. Once the bowlers packed up, prospective new users of the site would then be able to inspect it. Recommendations would then come back to the board to approve a new leaseholder, probably in March 2022.
Member Jan O’Connor asked why the bowlers could not stay on, month by month, until a new tenant was chosen. “Why not leave them there? About a dozen guys are using it three time a week.”
She pointed to the situation in Devonport, where the old bowling club has been left empty for several years. Trish Deans said it would be good to avoid a gap in tenancy in Takapuna. The officials said it was tidier legally to move on, with notice having already been given. They pointed out that the board had decided in April to call for expressions of interest. (This was a split decision, made on the casting vote of the former chair, Aidan Bennett. Members O’Connor, Deans and current chair Ruth Jackson had called for the bowlers to have more time to explore expanding their membership in the club, which was formed in 2007.)
The officials indicated discussions on the Devonport site’s future were well in train, and likely to be reported back to the board this month. In recent years, nine bowling clubs across the North Shore had closed, they noted.
After closures, improvements made by club members were meant to be removed. If they were not, they reverted to the council which was not ideal, given on some sites this required a considerable clean-up.
Several members wanted to know how this left club members who had installed costly floodlights, if these had to be removed before prospective lessees inspected the site.
Officials indicated a clause could be added to the expression of interest document, indicating that floodlights on site might be available for sale if the new occupant could agree a deal direct with the bowling club.
The site contains a small building used as a clubroom, but this lacks toilet or kitchen facilities.
Adding these, if wanted, would be at the cost of the new occupant, the officials said, with a suggestion made that a shared facilities arrangement might be possible with neighbouring Shore Junction.
George Wood asked if the land might be used for development, with any funds being returned locally, but was told it was zoned for community use. Any planning changes to match the surrounding mixed-use zoning should have been contemplated earlier in the process, before the expressions of interest process was approved, officials said.
Jackson said she wanted the land to remain a community asset. She also called for expressions of interest to be advertised in the Rangitoto Observer and Devonport Flagstaff newspapers to deepen the reach with local residents.
Officials had indicated advertising would be placed in another publication and on the council website.
The Rangitoto Observer can be downloaded online here.
Please consider supporting The Rangitoto Observer by clicking here:
