Community to be asked for feedback regarding Wedderburn Hall

Wedderburn people will be asked for their input into the future use of their community hall.

This follows an expression of interest from the owner of the Wedderburn Tavern to purchase the Wedderburn Town Hall and property, which was discussed at the Maniototo Community Board meeting at Ranfurly on Thursday (30 November 2023).

The tavern owner was interested in developing the hall into a private residence to accommodate staff within the Wedderburn community. The community Board declined the offer because the Council does not own the hall.

Although the hall is on its own parcel of land and has its own separate certificate of title, and is part of the Wedderburn Reserve, it is Crown land and not vested in Central Otago District Council. However, the Council is appointed to manage and control the hall and land it occupies.

The hall property ownership dates back to 1926 when it was purchased by the Wedderburn Hall Association from the Crown. It passed back to the Crown in 1960 and became part of the Wedderburn Domain and was managed by the Wedderburn Hall Committee. The reserve/domain came under the Reserves and Domains Act 1953 and is now subject to the Ngai Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998. When the domain board ceased to exist, the reserve passed to Council. An arrangement existed that the hall committee took care of the ground maintenance around the hall property and arranged for grazing of the reserve to keep vegetation in check.

The last official use of the Hall was in 2007. Committee and community involvement had waned until recently. At Thursday’s meeting, Maniototo Community Board member Cr Stu Duncan, who is the current point of contact for the hall, reiterated what was in the report tabled at the meeting, that younger people with children had moved into the community, and as a result a group known as the Wedderburn Community Association had come out of recess with a special meeting, and had held a working bee to tidy up the grounds. The revived association is planning to hold Annual General Meeting in April 2024 to formalise new office bearers and plan its future direction including hall management arrangements with the Council.

The Hall has been identified as earthquake prone. The detailed seismic assessment identifies the building is 15% of the new build standard. Should the hall continue to be used by the public, there is a statutory requirement to earthquake strengthen the building to 34% of the new build standard and bring the building up to fire and accessibility compliance standards. The current estimated cost for this work is $393,000 excluding GST to be completed within the next 25 years or sooner if a building consent is triggered.

Other capital costs to the value of $32,500 have been proposed in the draft Long-term Plan (LTP) 2024/2034.

In the interim, bookings for use at the Hall will be advised to Council and an appropriate charge will be invoiced to users. Currently Council’s Fees and Charges do not include Wedderburn Hall, but this will be addressed during Council’s LTP.

The Maniototo Community Board resolved to engage with the Wedderburn community of interest through the Wedderburn Community Association regarding the issues relating to the future use of the Wedderburn Hall property and to gauge the community’s commitment to managing the hall in manner acceptable to Council and the arrangement with the Crown.

The community board also resolved to inform the owner of the Wedderburn Tavern regarding the legal status of the Wedderburn Hall property regarding the offer to purchase, and that this had been declined.