"The outcome is not in the format we set out to achieve,” Sports Hall 2026 Steering Committee chairperson Lucas Cawte says.

“We wanted it to be owned by the community so we could control its destiny.”

His comments followed the District Council announcement that Tricroft Properties Ltd was the new owner of the Ashburton Centennial Sports Hall and had made a commitment to rent it to the community for at least the next 10 years.

It was bought for $405,500, plus gst (if any).

Cawte said to secure the future of the sports hall for the community, the group would have hoped for a longer than 10 year agreement.

"Part of the value to users is knowing they have a long term use of the facility,” Cawte said.

However, he said they looked forward to working with Tricroft to ensure the many community groups who used it regularly, or for one off use, could access it and provide a real benefit to the town.

Meanwhile, Ashburton Rotary member John Driscoll said the sale of the hall to Tricroft was a good outcome.

“The arrangement of the use of it for the next 10 years suits us to the ground.  It gives us security to this special community asset,” he said.

"It’s good to see in a round-a-bout way, the community still have access to the hall.

“Tricroft do good in the town and to be offering use of the hall for the next 10 years they are supporting the community,” Driscoll said.

Rotary uses the hall for about four weeks a year to prepare for and hold their big annual fundraiser — Bookarama.

“While the hall was a bit leaky in some places during the time we were there, it pleases me to see it in better condition than I thought it would be,” Driscoll said.

Tricroft director Sally Carr said the company looked forward to working with the steering committee.

"We are pretty happy to be able to provide the hall to the community to use,” she said.

“We will offer 10 years of access to community groups and we will then look to see how this may continue in the future.

"We see us owning it but working with the community in regards to hiring it as middle ground.”