''Leave our pavilion alone,'' was the message from Dunback resident Jennifer Barnett yesterday who pleaded with the Waitaki District Council not to lease out the former Dunback tennis pavilion to a private organisation.
She was making submissions on her behalf and as the secretary of the Waihemo Citizens' Charitable Trust to the council's community services committee on a proposal to lease the pavilion to the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association.
The council was required to advertise and call for submissions because the building was on a reserve.
It received four submissions.
The pavilion is believed to have been built with community funding, including an insurance payout from the Green Valley Hall fire.
But the Dunback Tennis Club was dissolved in 2007 and in 2011, the association asked if it could lease the pavilion.
To formalise the position, the council proposed to lease the pavilion for five years to the association, on condition it maintained the building and allowed community access.
But Ms Barnett opposed the lease.
''You take away the last thing the community owns and we have nothing.''
She had concerns about guaranteeing public access and said the community had had access to it, but it was very difficult to get a key.
She also questioned the ''attitude'' of some association members, who believed they had sole access to the pavilion and others should not being using it.
''They [the association] already refer to it as theirs.''
The pavilion should be available to everyone, including the community and other campers at the domain who were not members of the association.
The submissions were discussed at a council workshop yesterday afternoon.
