The Northern (Te Hiku) Community Board has committed $100,000 over the next five years to confirm its support for the Te Ahu multi-function community facility.
The funding, to be allocated as $20,000 annual grants through to 2013, has been earmarked for a community component within the Te Ahu Charitable Trust development concept which seeks to establish joint facilities for a library, i-Site, museum, cultural centre, arts facility, council Service Centre and café.
The commitment is intended to provide the trust with an element of funding certainty, as something which the trust can borrow against if the full amount is required at an earlier date.
The grant has been "tagged" for a community element to differentiate between any funding the Far North District Council may contribute to support facilities such as the Service Centre, library, and i-Site, and the community-based facilities within the new facility.
The board has yet to discuss with the trust exactly how the money will be applied, but it will be towards a specific project within the overall development.
The board has also supported in principle the trust's proposal to integrate the new Te Ahu centre with the adjoining Far North Community Centre and wants to see the two components of the project proceed as a single entity.
"There is an urgent need to upgrade the Far North Community Centre before it deteriorates any further, and this is going to involve a great deal of money. It's in the interests of the ratepayers that there is no duplication of effort, facilities and funding. Carrying out the work as a single project is a logical approach," board chair Fiona King says.
"The Community Centre is in a very rundown condition, and this is an opportunity to get the building and the services such as lighting and sound up to scratch again and improve the utilization of the building," she says
For further information please contact:-
Rick McCall
Communications Officer
Far North District Council
0800 920 029
