The Sports Park Story
The Regional Sports Park story began in 1921 when William Nelson offered three hectares of land to the Hastings Borough at less that its market value. This facility became known as Nelson Park and it provided outstanding service to athletics and rugby for many years.
However, the sporting and urban landscape changed. Napier's McLean Park became the home of rugby, and after 50 years of service, the athletics facilities were in need of a multi-million dollar upgrade.
Meanwhile the value of the Nelson Park site, which is close to the Hastings CBD, had grown considerably. Hastings District Council was mindful that the value of the site, plus the cost upgrading its facilities, would result in a major investment in one sport, athletics.
While discussions over Nelson Park were occurring, a number of other sports that were constrained by a lack of space and facilities at their existing venues, expressed interest in being part of any new development. The idea of a sport and recreation park evolved from these discussions.
The Council sought public feedback, via a referendum. The referendum asked voters if they wanted to sell Nelson Park and develop a new athletics facility as part of a larger sport and recreation park on a new site at the Hastings end of the Napier / Hastings Expressway. The public voted for the proposal, by a 2:1 majority.
The sports that had earlier expressed an interest in being involved with the Park put forward their cases, and a major public consultation process was undertaken. As a result the fully fledged Sports Park will incorporate grounds and facilities for athletics, football, touch rugby, tennis, netball, cycling, gymsports and a lot more.
The athletics track has been laid and was opened, in October 2008, by Olympic medallist, Nick Willis. Construction of a 2500 seat grandstand to go alongside the track is due to be completed mid 2010. Subsequent stages of the Park will be developed in tandem with fundraising.
Having a smart set of facilities is just part of the story. The East Coast region, and indeed New Zealand, has a number of social issues. Our ‘performance' in health and crime is not what it should be and we compare poorly with the rest of the western world in measures such as suicide and violent crime.
Sport is part of the solution. Engagement in physical activity is a powerful tool in the prevention of some of our most common health problems. Involvement in sport, especially team sports, also addresses many of the symptoms associated with criminal activity. As principal youth court judge Andrew Becroft puts it "a kid in sport stays out of court".
