Napier council considers revoking aquatic-centre decisions

The Napier Aquatic Centre at Onekawa Park. But where is it really at ? Photo / NZME

Napier City Council's hopes of getting the often-heated aquatic centre debate out of the way in its three-year term which ends in October have been scuttled by a motion to revoke decisions it made just three months ago.

The motion goes before the Council's Extra Council meeting tomorrow – just as the council should have been starting to make decisions based on consultation which was projected in the resolutions of a meeting held on March 10 this year.

At that time the council decided, by an 11-1 majority, to go to the public with site options central suburban Onekawa Park, home of the ageing current Napier Aquatic Centre, or a new western location on the corner of Prebensen and Tamatea drives.

The decision included directing staff to prepare material for a four-week public consultation aimed at getting a decision on a site by early July, the start of a three-month hiatus in which councils cannot make major decisions in the three months leading up to the local elections.

It was at the time intended that the section stage would be design and funding stages in 2023 to be an amendment to the council's 2021-2031 long-term plan, but councillors are now being told it could not have committed a new council to a long-term plan amendment.

A report prepared for this week's meeting reveals that on April 7 – just four weeks after the decision – councillors instructed officers to pause consultation "due to perceived fiscal and reputation risks with proceeding to consultation using the proposed projected costs for the respective sites."

Two weeks ago, chief executive Dr Stephanie Rotarangi received a Notice of Motion signed by the minimum required five of the 13 at the Council table (the Mayor and the 12 councillors), proposing the revocation and replacement of the resolutions.

The report to the council notes it cannot commit a future council to a Long Term Plan amendment. The situation means the debate will now likely go into at least a fourth council term, from when it was election issue in the 2013-2016 term.