News items from the City Council’s Parks and Recreation Committee held on 8 Sept.

Trees to go

Trees will be removed from an unsafe area at the South Brighton Motor Camp.

However, replanting will also be made and all the work will be with the approval of the South Brighton Residents’ Association.

On July 11, following heavy rain, a large macrocarpa tree fell into the camping area, narrowly missing a parked (but unoccupied) caravan.

The committee was told there had been several similar incidents over the past few years in plantations around the camping ground and sports field areas.

The ground was mainly pure sand with a high water table, which prevented sinker roots from penetrating the lower soil levels for support.

The majority of trees in the area were aged about 75 years, about the twice the normal life of a commercial plantation tree.

The council’s arboriculturist, Walter Fielding Cotterell, said the trees were increasingly prone to wind-throw or root-lift.

Pools will go

Smaller swimming pools around the city would go in time, Cr Carole Anderton told the committee.

"These smaller pools will inevitably close. The Templeton pool is the first to come before us," she said.

While $12,000 had been budgeted for the pool’s operational costs nothing had been set aside for asset maintenance.

Repairs costs were set at more than $20,000, and another $5200 to repair and replace filter system pipes, the committee was told.

The 15m-long pool was costing about $7000 a month to operate, not including wages.

The committee was told that the pool was very old and would continue to cost significant sums to maintain it.

The Riccarton-Wigram Community Board will provide $10,000 and the committee decided that the balance would be found from other council sources to get it repaired.

Cr Anderton said: "We need to send the message to smaller pools that they will close as the need arises."

Park discussion

The public will have an opportunity to comment on the council’s management plan for Duncan Park, which is leased by the Ferrymead Pony Club.

The 23.4-hectare park is in the Horotane Valley and was left to the city in 1949. It has been leased to be club since 1962 and it has now applied for a renewal of the lease.

A draft management plan has resulted from investigations into ways of upgrading the park to provide better recreational facilities for the Heathcote area.

Development plans

Concept plans for the development of Centennial Park, Lyttelton Street, have been released.

They include volleyball courts and the replacement of tennis courts, which were ripped out when the new Pioneer Swimming Centre was built.

The parks unit’s planning team leader, Chris Freeman, said the development of the pool and the nearby Te Kura Kaupapa School highlighted the need for the plans.

Mona Vale addition

Mona Vale is to be extended with the purchase of more than 4000 sq m of land.

The committee decided yesterday to buy the land, subject to financial arrangements.

The purchase will be made from Ngai Tahu Properties and the parks unit’s planning team leader, Chris Freeman, said the fact that it had taken 11 years to secure an option to buy the adjoining railway land showed how slow and complex the procedure had been.

He said the land included "the possible new Mona Vale car park north from Matai Street but also the tree-covered grass mounds from Matai Street to Kilmarnock Street."

A management review would be carried out once the land was bought, he said.