Special Olympics Whanganui currently lease the land from the district council. Photo / Bevan Conley.
The former St John’s Bowling Club green at Laird Park could become a disability sports hub if Special Olympics Whanganui gets its wish.
It has put together a redevelopment plan that involves covering the green with a multi-sport hard surface and filling and grassing the rest of the area it leases from the Whanganui District Council.
Volunteer Sharnell Stevenson said Special Olympics Whanganui’s (SOW) Laird Park lease was split into two sites - the green and the former bocce courts.
The courts had been deemed unsafe due to uneven surfaces.
Existing facilities had limitations, hindering the full potential of athletes and the wider disabled community, she said.
If the plan was successful, it would make the area “Whanganui’s disability sports hub”.
“The site will be transformed into a welcoming space for various sports, including bocce, soccer, badminton and table tennis.
“A crucial element is the inclusion of a relocatable building for storage and social activities, fostering a sense of community and interaction.”
Stevenson said SOW had been granted limited use of the old bowling club building by the current owner - River City Dance & Leisure - to utilise the kitchen and toilet facilities.
The new facility would give Special Olympics the chance to grow participation numbers and to host competitions.
“We currently utilise several venues throughout Whanganui but they limit our offerings.
“We see this as a shared sporting hub for all of Whanganui’s disability associations, but also a home for Whanganui Special Olympians.”
Whanganui currently had 30 registered Special Olympians but that was growing, she said.
A two-tier soccer tournament at the facility would bring up to six different clubs to the city.
Powerlifting competitions could attract 30 athletes plus their support crews.
Special Olympic Whanganui chairwoman Jan Bublitz told the Chronicle the estimated cost for the hard surface was between $20,000 and $300,000.
Next year will mark SOW’s 40th anniversary.
“For us not to have a home is kind of sad. I know nothing happens overnight, but if we don’t make inroads, we’re never going to have anything,” Bublitz said.
“Our community of intellectual disabilities is increasing exponentially with the way life has been going, whether it’s fetal alcohol (syndrome) or methamphetamine affecting children.
“Those kids are in school now and it would be really nice to think that in the future, they are going to have a space to feel safe.”
She said the organisation’s equipment was currently stored in a container and permission was required every time she needed to go on site to retrieve something.
Stevenson told the Whanganui District Council’s aspirations and performance committee SOW already had an experienced funding application writer who would seek grants from other donors to support the project.
SOW wanted the proposal included in council’s Long Term Plan, she said.
“In addition, we are asking for council approval for this project so that some work can commence on the site immediately.”
Council assistance would also be needed for any potential Hail (Hazardous Activities and Industries List) remediation costs.
The Ministry for the Environment outlines Hail as “a compilation of activities and industries that are considered likely to cause land contamination resulting from hazardous substance use, storage or disposal.”
Bublitz said the area SOW leased was not currently on the list but there had been spraying at the bowling club over the years, possibly with “pretty heavy-duty stuff”
“You would hope any remediation would be simple but you can’t just expect that.”
Outside laying the new surfaces, work would be fairly straightforward, she said.
“There would be refurbishment, tidying things up, putting concrete pathways down. It’s not rocket science.
“The council can help a part of the community that doesn’t really have a profile.
“If we don’t have a profile, people don’t know who we are and don’t know how valuable this is for the athletes,” she said.
Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.