The hub managed to renew its lease with the Ministry of Education, in spite of earlier fears the ministry may be forced to sell the land.
A new lease agreement with the ministry, which lasts until the end of June next year, provides much needed certainty to the many organisations and community groups that call the hub home.
Phillipstown Community Centre Charitable Trust manager Viviana Zanetti says it is an amazing outcome.
“It’s a win-win situation, because … we look after it, it’s well maintained, it’s not vandalised.
“But also, we do not pay any rent, we can thrive, we can really do amazing stuff.”
She says community development and social cohesion is not in the ministry kaupapa, “so we are really grateful for this place.”
“When government, local or central, work with community, we can make amazing things.”
The Phillipstown Hub operates from the old Phillipstown Primary School site, which closed after the February 22, 2011, earthquake and is still owned by the ministry.
However, the ministry has to declare land as surplus if it isn’t being used for education.
The hub has only managed to keep the land so far because the Te Waka Unua Technology Centre was located onsite.
The decision to relocate the technology centre to Te Aratai College (Linwood College) this year left the future of the land uncertain.
If the ministry was forced to declare the land as surplus, it may have been sold and the hub would’ve been forced to move at little notice.
However, plans have been made to move a new school into the old technology centre, allowing the ministry to keep the land and agree to a new lease for the hub.
The lease renewal is excellent news for the community, which has become attached to the site, says volunteer Devon Anderson.
“The hub is very good for the children, and the community. It’s a real buzz, a buzz of activity during the day.”
The hub is home to eight organisations that use its facilities full-time, and over 50 other organisations and community groups that regularly use the site, ranging from music groups and elderly social groups to refugee organisations and mental health support groups.
“It’s an amazing green space in the neighbourhood with amazing big trees and a really safe space for children,” Zanetti said.
“It’s a resource for the Phillipstown area to be sure but it’s also a resource for the whole of Christchurch.”
-By Rowan Sinclair
