Wellington City Council offers free ground and venue hire for sport and recreation groups

Wellington City Council has announced that use of its facilities will be free for sports clubs until the end of June 2020, with the Council also announcing an extended winter season for sportsfield access.

The move will see no charges for sportsfields, courts or lane bookings at Council swimming pools, the ASB Sports Centre and outdoor courts, although in pool access charges will apply.

Normal fees will apply from Wednesday 1st July, and seasonal fees will be reduced for winter sports due to the winter season being shorter than usual.

Advising that the move is to help lessen the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the city’s sports clubs, Wellington Mayor Andy Foster stated “we are particularly thinking of our local sports clubs who have not been able to use the Council’s facilities during the lockdown period. Many of them will have lost their main sources of income as they were not able to operate during Alert Levels 3 and 4.

“In addition to charging no fees until 1st July, we’re also proposing not to increase fees and charges for community sport in 2020/21 in our Annual Plan, which is currently out for consultation. We want to ensure we are doing all we can to help community organisations to recover as we know many of them are suffering financial hardship.”

Wellington City Council Sport and Recreation Portfolio holder, Councillor Simon Woolf says to be eligible for paying no fees until the end of June, groups will need to be affiliated to a national or regional sporting body, or be an incorporated society or trust whose primary purpose is the delivery of community sport.

Councillor Woolf added “we want to see people back training and playing sport again, and this is to help support sports with what will be a gradual start to a disrupted season. Normally our winter season for sportsfields would end around August to enable competitions to be played - this will now be extended until the end of September.”

The no charges policy will not include private bookings or commercial sports leagues.

Image: Wellington's ASB Sports Centre.