Rangitīkei District Council plan to build a new civic centre at the corner of Broadway and High Street in Marton. Photo / Bevan Conley
Rangitīkei District Council plan to build a new civic centre at the corner of Broadway and High Street in Marton. Photo / Bevan Conley
The future of multiple heritage buildings in Marton and Taihape is up in the air.
Rangitīkei District Council wants to demolish a block of heritage buildings on the corner of Broadway and High St to make way for a new civic centre in Marton at cost of $33 million.
Thatis the council’s preferred option as part of its 2023/24 Annual Plan consultation. Another option is to refurbish the existing buildings to house the centre, preserving some of the heritage features where possible, at a cost of $34 million.
“They were signalled as something that the council was wanting to do for some time, so we’re now looking at how that would be progressed,” Rangitīkei Mayor Andy Watson said.
“[The first option] also leaves us with the opportunity to sell land that could be available for housing within a very short walk of central town.”
He expected the community to have a mixed view on whether to preserve the buildings in Marton or replace them.
Marton & District Historical Society president Liz Rayner said they would like to see some of the features of the buildings preserved, but recognised it may be too late to save them.
“Whilst we would love to save our building heritage, we realize you can’t stop progress, especially when the cost of restoring three or four ancient buildings is not a feasible investment for private developers or for the Rangitīkei district,” she said.
There were buildings in town the group wanted to preserve, but the buildings on Broadway were becoming dangerous.
“[The buildings] might look historic from the front, but a trip around the back of them reveals vast walls of bricks with little historic value,” Rayner said.
“They have been left for too long.”
She said the group have many historic photographs of the buildings and is beginning to digitise its archives.
Taihape Town Hall
The council also wants to carry out earthquake strengthening and restore the Taihape Town Hall, which has been used as a civic centre for the town and was closed in 2021 due to earthquake safety concerns.
It’s the council’s preferred option and would cost $14m.
The Taihape Town Hall. Photo / Bevan Conley
It is also asking the public for feedback on option two - carrying out this work and transforming part of the Memorial Park Grandstand to house council functions.
That would cost between $15m and $18m.
“[One] of the reasons for that preference in Taihape [is] the community had indicated an early preference that the administration remains available to the central town and that something should be done to the existing site,” Watson said.
Taihape Heritage Group member Geoff Duncan said there was a lot of support in the community for keeping the grandstand in operation.
“It’s a wonderful old building, and one day it could look like the shining example of the Claudlands [Grandstand] in Hamilton,” he said.
However, he was apprehensive about it being partly changed to host council functions, and he’d rather preserve and future-proof the grandstand as it is.
The grandstand was listed as a Category 2 heritage building by Heritage New Zealand this year, and the group were working towards having it strengthened and kept in its original state.
He said the town hall made much more sense for council duties as it was in a much better location for it.
“Where it is on State Highway 1 is so logical for information, for people passing through, for younger people in the community to walk in and find a computer or a library book,” Duncan said.
He said Taihape was in desperate need of more venues for events and meetings, which the town hall would also be great for.
The only areas in which it needed to be brought up to modern standards were earthquake strengthening and heating.
“If the council could find a cost-effective way to earthquake-strengthen our town hall, then it’d be absolutely fantastic if it could remain,” Duncan said.
Having said this, he said if the grandstand option was supported by the public and well-thought-out, then it would be the way progress goes.
The full consultation document is available on the council’s website, with hard copies available at council libraries, info centres and front receptions.
Submissions to the plan can be made through the council’s website, by emailing info@rangitikei.govt.nz, dropping off documents at service centres or by posting to Private Bag 110, Marton 4741.
People need to have their feedback submitted by 5pm on April 25.
