Council plan a savage blow, says club

THE Wanganui District Council proposal for the Savage Club is an unfair, savage attack on the club and community as a whole, club treasurer Dennis Price believes.
Council, in its draft Long Term Council Community Plan 2006-16 (LTCCP) wants to divest ownership of community halls, including the Savage Club Hall, to the community, claiming the buildings are costing council too much money.
The Savage Club Hall, a historic two-pavilion building erected in 1894 on the Drews Ave-Watt St corner has been leased to the club since 1935.
Speaking on behalf of club members, Mr Price said they were stunned to learn of council's intention in the draft LTCCP "without any prior warning or communication from council".
"We will be making a strong submission against the proposal and hope the community will also make submissions.
As a former school principal, Mr Price said he preferred to resolve matters in rational discussion, and not speak out in public, but he felt he had no option.
Also he found "the draft LTCCP not easy to wade through and find information from," despite being someone used to reading and interpreting education documents and policies. "Council, in its LTCCP, claims the Savage Club Hall will cost it $200,000 over 10 years. It is hard to see how it has arrived at this figure.
"To be suddenly faced with this, one has to ask is the work council claim has to be done really necessary; is it cosmetic or is it designed to discourage the leaseholder from continuing to use the building?
"It is claimed excessive ground settlement has occurred particularly at the southern end of the Savage Club Hall, affecting the timber roof trusses and the end roof and the ceiling diaphragm over the main pavilion. They believe the effects of the settlement should be addressed as a matter of urgency.
"But it is only about four years since the council replaced the roof and if the settlement is as bad as stated why didn't the council attend to the issue then. A number of our members are very experienced in the building trade and they have no serious concerns about the building.
"There would be very few Wanganui buildings of its age where there has not been some settlement."
That the building,112 years after construction, had minor faults only, caused mainly by outside factors such as earth instability "suggests strongly the Savage Club has played a significant role in ensuring the building's well being and preservation, not only because of its value to the club, but because of the hall's uniqueness- a recognised Wanganui icon, Mr Price said.
He noted that over the past 70 years the club had spent considerable amounts of money on maintaining the hall and in the past 10 years alone $125,302.
"The council's only expenditure was $30,000 about four years ago to replace the roof."
Mr Price also took issue with council's statement in the draft LTCCP plan that the Savage Club was struggling to meet commitments.
"This is unfair and not a true reflection of the situation. "What we have done is challenge the additional costs council has imposed since 2000 and which were never charged previously.
"These include rates, insurance, building inspection and water charges.
"We pay $900 a year for the inspection, and up until last year, when we objected, were being charged by council for insurance, despite having our own insurance.
"Imposing rates (of about $5000) at a level based on the present GV of $253,000 (land $133,000, building $120,000) is unrealistic for a non-profit organisation."
The club's perpetual lease agreement states it will not pay rates, but would be responsible for the building's maintenance.
Also in correspondence to the club in 1973 the council states if the club had to leave the hall council would arrange mutual satisfactory accommodation for it.
Mr Price wondered if council had taken into consideration the benefits the community at large received from the Savage Club Hall.
They include funding raising concerts staged by the club which in recent years has seen $16,000 given to local organisations and appeals. These include Hospice Wanganui, the Cancer, Schizophrenic, Ostomy Haemophilia, St John and MS societies, Blind Association, MRI Scanner, Life Scan, Friends of the Museum and Friends of the Opera House.
Submissions to the draft LTCCP close on May 12.