Lyttelton Recreation Centre partnership delivers new community programmes

Christchurch City Council’s Lyttelton Recreation Centre is offering a fresh programme of events, classes and activities thanks to a partnership with community group Project Lyttelton.

Christchurch City Council Head of Community Support, Governance and Partnerships, John Filsell, says the Lyttelton Recreation Centre played a big part in everyday, pre-quake life for Lyttelton and the wider Harbour Basin community.

Filsell advised “since reopening in 2016, it was clear the Centre wasn’t achieving the numbers it had enjoyed pre-quake.

“We felt the Centre could be put to better use if it were actively managed by a community group, who would activate the space with a wider range of programmes and activities that met the evolving needs of the Lyttelton community.

“We reached out to Project Lyttelton to see if they’d be interested to form a partnership to activate and manage the Centre.”

Project Lyttelton Chair Margaret Jefferies says the partnership is a good fit with the group’s overarching objective of enabling increased social connectedness and well-being in the community, stating “the Lyttelton Recreation Centre is the largest facility available for community use in Lyttelton. In years past, it had high use for recreational sport, community groups and occasional hire. Many a child’s birthday party was held ‘at the Rec Centre’.

“We’re delighted to partner with Council and the Lyttelton community to transform our much-loved recreation centre into a thriving, self-sustaining hub.”

Project Lyttelton has been funded through Council’s Resilience Partnerships Fund to manage the reactivation of the Centre in ways that engages with community needs.

The Reactivation Project commenced in 2018 with a programme of new, regular activities and has already seen a 53% uptake in users from last year.

The Lyttelton Recreation Centre project is the first partnership of its kind as Council explores ways to give communities a bigger role in the long-term management of their local facilities.

Jefferies says the project is a learning curve for both partners, adding “there is goodwill on both sides to work through any issues as they arise for the long term good of the community.”