Sport Tasman are pleased to announce a plan for the repair and redevelopment of Kaikōura’s Takahanga Domain tennis courts, that they hope will begin in early 2023. In true sports style, the development of the plan has been a team effort with Kaikōura District Council, Kaikōura Netball, Kaikōura Tennis and Te Rūnanga o Kaikōura working together to develop the plan. The next step, before moving onto concept designs, is a public consultation meeting to be held later this month.

The tennis courts are located on the corner of the Esplanade and Killarney Steet and were badly damaged in the 2016 earthquake. Since then, there have been discussions on the repair of the courts which have broken and cracked asphalt and are generally unusable. However, an approach to Sport Tasman by Kaikōura Netball led to developing planning for a multi-use facility that will make better use of the space for the wider community. A revised plan will see the courts catering for netball, tennis, and potentially other activities such as wet weather training and 3 on 3 basketball.

The current home for Kaikōura Netball is the Kaikōura High School courts at the rear of the school. These courts also sustained damage in the earthquake resulting in limited court space suitable for use. Other issues include lack of storage, poor lighting, and the netball and tennis pavilion previously leased from the school has been repurposed as classroom space.

Speaking about the new multi-use facility Tony Thomas, Sport Tasman’s General Manager Spaces & Places said, “The current footprint of the four tennis courts would remain the same, but the site will require levelling to accommodate up to four netball courts, resealing, fencing, and lighting. All going well, we are hoping to start the groundwork early in the new year, with the courts ready by next year’s winter netball season. But there is a lot to do before then on a culturally sensitive site.”

Sport Tasman has secured funding through Sport NZ for a dedicated Project Co-ordinator to help get the wheels moving and to provide much needed sport & recreation consultancy services and strategic advice around the project.

Over the past couple of months, Sport Tasman and project partners have met with potential funders, including the Department of Internal Affairs and Rātā Foundation, who are all keen to support this exciting development. Grant funding will be essential for the re-development to proceed with minimal cost to the local community.

The public consultation meeting is due to take place on Wednesday June 29^th at 5.30pm at the Kaikoura District Council offices. Sport Tasman is warmly inviting residents, sports clubs and other organisations and stakeholders to attend the meeting and have their say about the redevelopment. Thomas says, “Among other things, we’re keen to get public feedback and gather ideas as to what this redevelopment might look like and who else might wish to be part of the space.”

Speaking for all the project stakeholders Thomas said, “We hope that this project will provide a great facility alongside rugby’s new clubrooms that will encourage more sport and recreation participation for everyone in Kaikoura.”

For more information, please contact Tony Thomas, Sport Tasman General Manager Spaces & Places on 027 486 3990 or tony.t@sporttasman.org.nz.

Article added: Tuesday 07 June 2022