City's $15,000 to help youth get back into sport | Bay of Plenty News | Local News in Bay of Plenty

A bid to get more sporting spark into the lives of Tauranga teens after they leave school has won the support of the city's cash-strapped council.

The council, which has been cutting millions out of its budgets to keep its finances in a sustainable position, decided by a 7-4 vote this week to put $15,000 towards the $300,000 project.

It was part of a proposed $90,000 cash commitment needed from Western Bay of Plenty organisations to help get the scheme off the ground. Called Pathway 16/20, it would be run by Sport Bay of Plenty and also attract $150,000 worth of in-kind contributions.

A report to the council said there were 6100 people aged between 16 and 20 in the Western Bay, of which about 2300 (38 per cent) participated in organised sport.

It was crucial that sports codes and clubs provided an environment that was "appropriate for youth". Support would be given to clubs with strategies to recruit, develop and retain young people, the report said.

Sport Bay of Plenty chief executive Wayne Werder said youth could lose their connections with the community when they left school. Sport and recreation was one of the best ways to link them back into the community.

Establishing school-club links would give young people the opportunity to continue participating in worthwhile sporting and physical activity throughout their lives, he said.

Mr Werder countered concerns from Cr Bill Faulkner about how the effectiveness of the programme would be measured. He said it was not a "fluffy" project and would be reasonably easy to measure.

Cr Larry Baldock said the council should be the first organisation to put some wind behind the project by saying yes.

He pointed out there was still an opportunity to hear back from the community through the 10-year plan.

Cr Bill Grainger said it would be great to get more youth involved in sport rather than activities that were "not nice".

Opposition centred on whether it was appropriate for the $15,000 to come from rates and whether the council's share should not come from other organisations, such as the Bay of Plenty District Health Board. The council was being asked for $5000 a year over three years.

Once local funding sources were finalised, an application would be made to Sport and Recreation New Zealand (Sparc) to contribute the remaining $210,000. Other cash and in-kind contributors could be the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, Sport Bay of Plenty, iwi, the police, regional sporting organisations and funding trusts.

The last Sparc active communities project involving the council was City on its Feet, a walking programme that ran from 2005-09.