πŸ™ Sandra Kai Fong

Councillor Election201320162019
Votes8,950
Placing7th
Councilor Election Results – 2013 – 2019

On Westbrook Sports Precinct:

  • Β 
  • 28 June 2021 – Council Meeting – voted against Trumper motion.❀ My rational at the time as I expressed was that I was happy with the recommendation that the staff had come up with. πŸ™
  • 18 May 2021 – SP&F Committee – voted against Shirley Trumper’s motion: That the discussion on the future of the Springfield Golf Course be deferred until such time as a full assessment is conducted by Council on a future sports facility that is fit for purpose to meet the future needs of the Rotorua community to go out for full consultation at the appropriate time. ❀
  • 19 Apr 2021 – Apology for the Springfield Community Conversation but has met with Saving Springfield & Springfield Golf Club twice. ❀
  • 5 Mar 2020 – “By creating a shared facility, with the ability to share resources and costs, clubs can focus on delivering and growing their sports and activities to best benefit their members”, Daily PostΒ πŸ™

Strategy, Policy & Finance committee of 14 October 2021

Seconded the Motion that:

  • That the report titled β€œWestbrook Sports and Recreation Precinct” be received;
  • That the Committee notes the nature and extent of the work that has been completed to date.
  • That the Committee note since the Westbrook Sport & Recreation Precinct was initially signalled, Rotorua has increasing pressures relating to housing and infrastructure that has increased the strategic value of this open space area.πŸ™
  • That the Committee support officers completing a comprehensive Play, Active Recreation and Sport Plan to inform future decisions on the Westbrook Sport & Recreation Precinct and the Springfield Golf Course.πŸ™
  • That the Committee notes that officers will work with the Bay of Plenty Regional Council to complete all necessary modelling, planning and infrastructure design to support required residential growth requirements and reduce and manage flooding risk in the Utuhina stream catchment. πŸ™

Council Meeting of 28 June 2021

I don’t support the recommendation as it is up there on the over-head projector. I spoke against and voted against that when it was amended by Mrs Trumper at the SP&F meeting. My rational at the time as I expressed was that I was happy with the recommendation that the staff had come up with. I think that what that recommendation did was to it set out a process for both the Council to follow and for the public to be assured that the issues of the Springfield petition would be looked at.

What I was concerned about was that this motion to effectively park the discussion with no time-frame and no details was not what the community was asking us to do.

And the original recommendation was that the Council was going to look at the overall picture for both open space, sports field development & housing. It was to look at the Westbrook or the wider sports facility with full community discussion in the Long Term Plan framework. So there would be full proposal, full funding, budgeting. We don’t have any of that detail. We don’t have any detail about how Springfield fits in there or doesn’t fit in there.

The original recommendation acknowledged the request from the Save Springfield golf course petition. It set out the details of that petition. It also directed the Council officers to consult directly with the organisers of the Springfield Golf Course [petition] around any proposal relating to it. And so I don’t think that we’ve had those discussions yet.

The further recommendation was that Council note that the current lease with the Springfield Golf Course does not expire until 2027 and there needs to be some further work around submissions, feedback, consultation and for me it’s about the devil being in the detail as well.

And I know Cr Macpherson that you’ve asked there be an amendment that we simply agree to renew the lease on the same terms and conditions. And I think some more work needs to be done around that. I’m not certain about what the status of the land is. I know in the course of the lease period that there was a change to the terms and conditions of the lease in terms of the amount of rent that was paid. So what are we talking about here?

So I think that for me there is a lot more work that needs to be done and this is a situation where I think that it’s unfortunate that the amendment was carried and if anything the original proposal [motion] would be what I would support and would recommend if we were to alter the motion that is on the table today.

So that we can ensure that the work that’s been done by Saving Springfield is not forgotten so that we can full and frank discussion and we have full details before we actually vote in relation to the Springfield Golf Course proposal.