Question from David Bishop

The LNI working group was tasked by the former EC with finding sites suitable for a new event centre, and from this Business Plans were developed for each of Foxton Racecourse; and Ashhurst Domain [adjacent to the Manawatu Canine Centre open air grounds]. The Ashhurst reserve site I believe had very strong support from Palmerston North City Council which wanted to co-build a multi sports usage centre with Dogs NZ, and had ample reserve land being river edge terrace for a sports building, to have associated parking and space for camping. This proposal was side-lined in favour of Mansfeild which came out of the blue so to speak.

Question: Will the Ashhurst business case be put forward as part of your next blog advising of it in full detail, and seeking members to work up this proposal with Council into a fully costed project development?

A:

I must clearly state that the search for a LNI venue is effectively over.  This was implicit in the Dog World article in 2013 that announced the five-year contract with Manfeild but I agree that it was not so clearly stated as to be plain to readers.

The three options on leased land that were considered were not favourably assessed by the Risk Audit and Finance Committee who were not confident that the business case each represented was strong enough to justify the risks inherent in such large expenditure.   The Executive Council therefore settled on a five-year arrangement whereby clubs had access to Manfeild at a subsidised rate so that there was effectively a venue available, just not one that we owned.

It’s important to be clear that the present subsidy arrangement is not the “Manfeild option” in terms of the venue search.  That was to be an arrangement like the one at Ashurst, where we put our building on their land and entered a joint arrangement for the management of the building and events held in it.   The quid pro quo of course was that they shared the revenue with us, as would the Palmerston North or Horowhenua councils in the case of those two options.

I’m aware of the widespread dissatisfaction with the situation that has been reached, as well as the conspiracy theories in some quarters about manipulation of the process.  To address these issues, I have arranged for the three joint venture options to be presented to EC again, at their November meeting.  The respective champions, Paul Robinson (for Manfeild), Bill Murdoch (for Ashhurst) and Rob Ellis (for Foxton) will be able to put their cases to EC, with any updates they wish to make by then.  The RAF Committee will also take part and will have the opportunity to reconsider their earlier recommendations if they see any meritorious new material that they consider influential.

The current Executive Council will then make a final decision that will be unequivocally communicated to the membership.

But see my article about the search for a LNI venue in this month’s Dog World.  What I wrote in the preamble applies across the board.  If anyone can come up with a suggestion that fulfils the requirements stated in the Terms of Reference, it will be carefully considered.