Rotorua Central Scouts' Lakefront building to be demolished

The Rotorua Central Scout Group Hall on the lakefront. Photos / Stephen Parker

For around 60 years Scouts in Rotorua have enjoyed a premium lakeside location, but that's about to change with its building set to be demolished.

The Rotorua Lakes Council needs the Oruawhata Dr site cleared so the Rotorua Central Scout Group has decided to demolish its Oruawhata Dr hall and find a new space to rent or build on.

Scouts New Zealand believe it built on the site leased from the council in the 1950s.

The building was designed to give Sea Scouts easy boating access on the shore, and by 2007 the Rotorua Central Scout Group had moved in.

Scouts have been using the building since the 1950s.

Scouts Volcanic Zone leader Amanda Roberts said the council had been great at working alongside them and the change hadn't come as a surprise.

"We have known for years - since the Long Term Plan was out - that we would need to go, for the council's development plans. Now that has stepped up a notch."

Roberts said the makeup of the concrete building meant it would be extremely difficult to move, so they had decided against it.

They had not yet been given a certain date by which they had to be out, she said.

"We could vacate soon or it could be in a few months from now, but we are having chats with the council to find a new location.

"Our volunteers have been putting their feelers out about costs and locations for new premises. There are options available."

The Rotorua Central Scout Group has known for about eight years it would need to move.

She said the group been offered a short-term back-up location on Pererika St beside Rotorua Boys' High School.

When asked if the group was considering disbanding, Roberts replied: "Heck no!".

"We are always going to have somewhere to go and we will stay in the central city."

She said leaders were talking with Scouts New Zealand about the cost of demolition, and potentially building a new facility.

"It will not impact the group fees. I do not imagine we will build something new though, I imagine we will probably just go somewhere else [already built]."

Rotorua Lakes Council group strategy manager Jean-Paul Gaston said the group had been on a month-by-month lease since mid-2017 and "has been aware of uncertainty about the future of its tenure at the Lakefront since 2010".

He said this was due to various proposals for lakefront redevelopment, which dated back as far as 2006.

"A new proposal to redevelop the Lakefront is included in council's proposed 2018-28 Long-term Plan and consultation on that opens this week."

Gaston said the council would continue to work with Rotorua Central Scouts on solutions for relocation and demolition.

Last week the council revealed it would demolish the Soundshell on the Lakefront as part of its redevelopment plans.

The Lakeside Cafe connected to the Soundshell closed two weeks ago, after the owners' lease wasn't renewed by the council.