Dunedin City Council staff have come under fire from members of the Opoho Bowling Club, which is facing closure.
A 140-name petition was presented to the community development committee yesterday rejecting a committee recommendation to cancel the club's lease of reserve land after June 30.
Presenting the petition in the public forum part of the meeting, club member Tania Cassidy, a University of Otago lecturer, claimed councillors were getting ‘‘misinformation'' from their staff.
She presented councillors with a list of questions the club believed staff should answer, particularly over the criteria for deciding which clubs should close.
She said the Opoho club's membership had increased by 30% in the 2006-07 year to 27 and she wanted to know what the ‘‘magic number'' was that enabled clubs to continue.
Ms Cassidy suggested that if the number was 50 members then 17 of Dunedin's 31 clubs would be in the same category as Opoho.
Another club member, Errol Chave, said the club, formed in 1934, historically had a membership in the mid-20s and that number had never been an issue before.
Committee chairman Cr Paul Hudson pointed out the club had 17 members when the council began its review and that the number of bowlers in the city had dropped in recent years from 4020 to 2014.
Ms Cassidy said the Opoho club was ‘‘flying in the face of that decline''.
The city's physical activity strategy recognised ‘‘the importance of neighbourhood-based active lifestyle opportunities''.
Members of the Friends of the Botanic Garden told the committee its plans for redevelopment of the gardens - which required the realignment of Lovelock Ave - did not impact on the Opoho club.
Friends member Kari Morseth suggested the group would be interested in working with the bowling club to find more community uses for the club building.
The fate of the club was not on yesterday's meeting agenda but is expected to resurface in July.
