After nearly 50 years of nurturing Hawke’s Bay children, a Hastings playcentre is facing an uncertain future.
The Hastings District Council is looking to renovate the building used by the Cornwall Park Playcentre and turn it into a multi-purpose community hub.
The whānau-led playgroup has called the council-owned building home for the past 50 years, but in eight months’ time, it’s being redeveloped into a community hub.
“It’s been a real shock and a massive disappointment to all the families,” Cornwall Park Playcentre’s Susy Ratcliffe said.
Ratcliffe said while they are “meeting and talking about other options”, Playcentre Aotearoa “don’t have the funds to help us find a building or build a building”.
“I can’t imagine coming to the park and not having a Playcentre here,” parent Margaret McBride said.
“I've got a partner who works really, really long hours and I came here and I found home, and I found community,” parent Alice Corkran added.
With the Playcentre only open in the mornings four days per week, the council wants to better utilise the space for the whole community to use.
Hastings mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said the building is “not used in the holidays, in the afternoons, in the weekends, in the evenings - it just could be used by everyone”.
The playcentre needs to follow strict Ministry of Education guidelines on factors such as floor space and facilities, but a “pack away model” is being suggested as a way for it to remain at the renovated site.
“This 'pack away model' is already happening in places like Christchurch and so we're saying, well, could it happen in Hastings? How could we share?” Hazelhurst said.
Ratcliffe said they “would love to be able to share the building with other groups”.
The council says it will work with the group to see if it can find a good solution which benefits everyone.
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