A new steering group is helping to prepare a community bid to save the Ashburton Centennial Sports Hall, but big challenges lay ahead.

Around 40 people attended a public meeting called by the Rotary Club of Ashburton last week to discuss whether the community could retain ownership of the Tancred Street hall.

The hall had been owned and managed by the Ashburton Centennial Sports Hall Society since 1954, but the organisation wound up and gifted the building to the council in March, with an understanding it would likely be sold.

Rotary Club spokesperson John Driscoll said there was strong support for a community bid for the hall, but the biggest challenge would not be buying the hall – it would be proving the group could afford to operate and maintain it.

Driscoll said there was "definitely no way we could buy it" for market price.

The group is aware the building needs some work, he said.

“Bookarama has a pretty good knowledge of the leaks, but it is fixable.”

Other regular user groups like the Ashburton Boys' Brigade, Ashburton Tongan Assembly of God church, and Ashburton Fanciers Society feel the same and are part of the steering group.

“We just want it to be given back to the community," Driscoll said.

He said the meeting had representatives from existing and prospective user groups as well as some businesses looking to support something local.

“We now have a steering group together of about eight people to look at the next steps, which will be when the tender documents come out and we can pursue whether we can pull together a bid from there,” Driscoll said.

“We're not able to do much until we see the tender with the actual terms, so where it goes from here is up to how that looks and what expectations we've got.

“We're fully aware the council is quite prepared to look at a community bid if we can put a compelling case forward.”

If the group believe they have a case to make, it will likely establish a new trust to own and operate the hall, he said.

“The steering committee will take the lead and work out whether we can pull it off.”

The council considered an options report for the hall behind closed doors in May and decided to put it on the open market.

The report on the hall, including its operational costs, revenue, and a building assessment, remains confidential, but will be provided as part of the tender pack for prospective purchasers.

The council confirmed on Tuesday it has appointed Property Brokers agent Hamish Niles, who handled the sale of the former Council building, to handle commercial inquiries while the council will handle any community group inquiries.

The council also confirmed it is finalising the tender pack and contents to open next month.

Once closed, all tenders will be considered by Councillors with the aim to have a have settlement mid-November.

Driscoll said for a community bid, the purchase price isn’t the concern, it will be whether they can afford to operate and maintain the 75-year-old hall.

They are awaiting the documentation from council “to see what state it’s really in”.

The Rotary club is keen to maintain community ownership as it is “the best place for Bookarama”, its annual book sale that has raised over $1.5 million for community projects over 47-years.

“There are a lot of venues around, but nothing like that one.”

 By Jonathan Leask