The Waimea South Community Facilities project is the combination of both the Wakefield hub and the Brightwater hall upgrade. They were originally intended as a single project, which is why they appear as combined in the Council’s long term plan, 2024-34. In reality, the two projects are now separate. We formed the Waimea South Community Facility Charitable Trust in 2021 when the two projects were combined, but our focus now is just the Wakefield hub.
The hub project is a partnership between the Wakefield community and the Tasman District Council. At this time the community partner is the steering committee of the Waimea South Community Facility Charitable Trust, a group of local volunteers, established in 2021.
You can find out more about the Trust on our website: www.waimeasouth.org.nz The Trust works closely with the Wakefield Community Council and reaches out to all in our community.
The budget for the Wakefield hub project in the Tasman District Council’s long term plan 2024-34 is $11.2m.
The $11.2m will be funded through:
- $6.6m from Reserve Financial Contributions (RFCs). These are funds paid by property developers to Council. The $6.6m in RFCs have been paid to the TDC by local developers and are currently held by Council for the specific purpose of investing in community facilities
- $2.5m from community fundraising
- $2.1m from a TDC rates-backed loan
The TDC calculates that the combined Waimea South Community Facilities projects (the Wakefield hub and Brightwater hall upgrade) will add 0.03%, or $45,000, to rates. The Wakefield hub’s portion of that increase will be about 0.025%, about $35,000. That’s about 90c per person in the Tasman District.
The RFCs raised locally could be used by Council to fund projects in other parts of the District; for example, the Motueka swimming pool.
The hub will be owned by the Tasman District Council and managed by a governance group (a Trust or similar entity) made up of locals and Council representatives. This is the same as other local facilities like the Moutere Hills and Murchison community centres.
In its consultation document for the draft Annual Plan 2026-27, the Council lists an annual operating cost of $403,000. This figure is unsubstantiated and, at the time of writing (April 2026) we are awaiting details of the costs from the Council. We will post these as soon as we receive them.
Our own calculations of the running costs, vary from $167,000 in year one of operation to a maximum annual cost of $304,000 in year five. The breakdown and details of these costs can be read in our Business Case document on our website: www.waimeasouth.org.nz/about-the-project/
We’ve always recognised that the hub must be able to generate income to cover a major portion of its running costs. Under the present design, the hub will earn revenue from:
- Community gym membership. The Moutere Hills Community Centre is a good local example of this, with gym memberships covering around 50% of their running costs.
- Performing arts. Our hub will include capability to host theatre and other performing arts, principally for the Wakefield Country Players, and for other groups from around the region and further afield.
- Venue hire. The hub will multi-purpose function room, meeting room, commercial kitchen and sports hall will all be available for community and other groups to hire. Hire rates will be affordable.
- Council contribution. Under our business case (see above, Question 6) we calculate the Council will contribute around 9% of the running cost by way of an annual grant
- Grants funding and donations. The hub will be able to apply for a range of grants from funders such as the Rātā Foundation and Lottery, and will actively encourage support from donors and sponsors.
The Council’s seismic survey of the hall, in 2014, revealed that the building is unsafe and not economical to upgrade to the required safety level. This was the basis for developing the hub project.
Even if the hall was to be upgraded, it would still have limited use, lacking many of the facilities (sports hall, gym etc) that the community wants and needs. The hall could be expanded to meet some of these needs, which would restrict the amount of available parking on the site.
After considerable planning and discussion the TDC decided in mid-2026 to reject building the hub on the Wakefield Reserve for three main reasons:
- The Reserve is regarded as flood prone by Council engineers
- The cost of providing essential infrastructure to the Reserve site (electricity, water services, access and parking) was considered too expensive by Council
- Approvals from New Zealand Transport Authority (NZTA) for access from the State Highway were not assured.
The village hall site was previously not considered because the Wakefield Reserve was preferred as a location with enough space to build a hub catering to all the community’s needs and wants. The village hall site is now considered because of the rejection of the Reserve site, and the lack of suitable alternatives.
Yes, the village hall site cannot fit a building big enough to cater for all the needs. Furthermore it is not located to serve the needs of users of the existing and future sport and recreation activities on the Wakefield Reserve.
So, the current plan (November 2026) is to split the project into ‘One Hub, Two Roofs’ consisting of new buildings to replace both the village hall and the football/shooting clubrooms.
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