The $14 million trades training centre in Tokoroa. Photo / POUDIGITAL
Closing the South Waikato Trades Training Centre would be detrimental to the district, South Waikato District Mayor Gary Petley says.
“By removing this critical service, you are condemning South Waikato people to another generation of poverty.”
The Bay of Plenty and Waikato-based Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology has proposed to disestablish the jobs of 166.7 full-time equivalent staff, with a net loss of 63.9 roles after proposed new roles are filled.
Te Hautū Kahurangi Tertiary Education Union said the cuts would affect campuses in Rotorua, Tauranga, and Whakatāne and “most disturbingly” threaten the closure of Tokoroa and Taupō campuses.
Toi Ohomai said that falling student numbers along with reduced revenue and increasing costs made the campus unviable in Tokoroa.
Petley said the proposed closure of the South Waikato campus at the end of the year, which comes on the back of the Kinleith Paper Mill closure last month, was “a huge blow” to the community.
“The ... closure would have an immediate restraining impact on a local economy already reeling from the recent loss of around 150 jobs at the Kinleith Paper Mill.
“[The closure] will impact existing businesses here and businesses looking to relocate to the district, which would create new jobs.”
Petley said in his view, Toi Ohomai was “taking the easy way out, rather than finding other ways to achieve operational savings and to become sustainable, and it’s come at the detriment of the people of South Waikato”.
Petley said the district already ranked among the five most deprived in New Zealand and he feared the closure would amplify this.
According to data from the council’s recent Long-Term Plan, 23% of the residents aged between 15 and 24 are currently unemployed or not in education or training.
Petley said he feared what a lack of local education opportunities would mean for those young people.
“There is no shortage of research and evidence that tells us a critical factor in efforts to lift people out of those statistical categories, and out of deprivation, is to invest in education.”
Toi Ohomai executive director Kieran Hewitson said ceasing delivery of campus-based programmes in Tokoroa from 2026 was part of a wider “formal consultation process”.
“For many years, Toi Ohomai has worked incredibly hard in challenging financial environments to maintain our presence in Tokoroa,” Hewitson said.
“With declining ākonga [student] numbers, the ongoing costs associated with maintaining and running multiple campuses ... and a drop in income ... it is just no longer viable.
“Where we can work with employers, hapū and iwi and other groups to deliver programmes in Tokoroa, we will.”
Hewitson said she acknowledged the impact on “our people and the communities”.
“This is not a reflection on their great mahi [work] or that there is no longer a need, but rather a reflection on where we must focus our limited resources ... We are still committed to working with the communities in Tokoroa, but in a different way.”
She said all current students would be able to complete the programme that they are currently enrolled in.
The nearest campuses to Tokoroa are at least an hour’s drive away in Rotorua, Tauranga or Hamilton.
While the purpose-built $14 million South Waikato Trades Training Centre Pūkenga Rau is owned by the South Waikato Investment Fund Trust (Swift), a release from 2021 said the facility had been “developed alongside Toi Ohomai”.
The centre was funded with grants from the Provincial Growth Fund, Trust Waikato and Swift to support the district’s workforce development.
Since it opened in 2023, Toi Ohomai has leased part of the premises at Pūkenga Rau from Swift.
The Waikato Herald understands it is a 10-year lease.
Swift chief executive Clive Somerville said he was saddened to hear Toi Ohomai was evaluating education delivery in Tokoroa.
“Our thoughts are with the staff who are currently going through a consultation period.”
If Toi Ohomai’s proposal for closure went ahead, Somerville said Swift would not run education courses itself.
“While Swift is emphatic that we want to see local skills education delivery continue, however, exactly how this will unfold is too early to say just now.”
Petley said he would use his relationship with local MP and Minister for Social Development and Employment Louise Upston to “elevate” his concerns.
He would also seek ways in which the local council could fill the void going forward, including through existing initiatives like the WORKit Programme.
Danielle Zollickhofer is the Waikato news director and a multimedia journalist at the Waikato Herald. She joined NZME in 2021 and is based in Hamilton.