Junior sports clubs in the Wakatipu have cause for celebration with yesterday's decision to make seasonal ground and court hire half price for the groups.
The decision came as the Queenstown Lakes District Council community services committee considered council's community pricing policy for sports venue charges.
It will so far only affect two clubs in the resort, the Queenstown Junior Basketball Club and the Queenstown Junior Football Club, which had previously submitted in opposition to fees being charged for sports fields.
A recommended motion from general manager community service Paul Wilson, to recognise the value of cricket pitch improvements at Millbrook Corner with $10,000 balance credit, was lost.
The Millbrook Cricket Club built a concrete cricket block at Millbrook Corner, now managed by the QLDC, and is one of several groups submitting they should be exempt from hire fees based on their contributions.
Cr Russell Mawhinney argued in favour of the cricket club getting the credit based on the infrastructure investment it had made.
"Sure, I don't expect people should expect to get credit for volunteer work, but I think if they built the asset themselves the point is that the community has already paid for that."
Councillors Cath Gilmour, Jude Battson and Lex Perkins opposed the motion and in its stead, proposed they "acknowledge" the club's contributions, but still require seasonal ground charges to be paid.
The amended motion was passed, with Cr Mawhinney in opposition and Cr Stamers-Smith abstaining.
