Grant sought for adviser

Press, 30 August 1984, Page 3

Grant sought for adviser

The Canterbury United Council will apply for a salary grant of $lO,OOO a year for three years from the Internal Affairs Department so that it can appoint a full-time community adviser to the Canterbury Outdoor Recreation Information Centre. This was decided at a meeting of the council’s policy and resources committee yesterday, after a report from the Outdoor Recreation Centre’s Project Co-ordinator, Ms Diana Shand. The report said the Canterbury Centre had established a firm base and image, and there was national interest in it — support and promotion for the centre had come from the local community, national councils, the Government, and the tourist industry.

Staffing requirements had been met in the short term with financial assistance by safety councils and the Lands and Survey Department. The Internal Affairs Department had indicated it would help fund a full-time community recreation officer for three years, if the United Council paid a proportion of the worker’s salary. The chairman of the committee, Cr Vicki Buck, said that about 650,000 people visited Canterbury each year — the problem was not how to attract more people but how to keep them in the region longer. She said the United Council’s share of the community recreation officer’s salary would be about $6OOO a year, which was a worthwhile investment. The chief executive of the

United Council, Mr Malcolm Douglass, said that finding money for the council's share of the officer’s salary would not be a problem this year, although constituent councils would have to approve it next year. The committee also resolved to continue support of the community-based Outdoor Recreation Information Centre. Co-location The committee decided to inquire into the possibility of co-locating the Outdoor Information Centre and the Canterbury Promotion Council offices in the same building. The Mayor of Christchurch, Sir Hamish Hay, said it was possible that both organisations could be strengthened by working

under the same roof. The' chairman of the Waimairi District Council, Mrs Margaret Murray, said that visitors to Christchurch had to go to too many different buildings for information. There should be a focus of information for Christchurch and the region generally. The Arts Centre might provide such a place. Resource Centre About 50 full-time and 50 part-time jobs have been created by the Canterbury Resource Centre from the time it opened a year ago until two months ago. The centre’s co-ordinator, Mr Terry Hill, told the committee that the centre now needed funding on a block-grant basis to continue its work, rather than its existing short-term fund-

ing under the Labour Department’s Project Employment Programme (P.E.P.) scheme. The centre had been active in job creation, advice and assistance to small businesses and organisations, and initiating free “work wanted” advertisements in “The Press” said Mr Hill. Assistance for future development could come from a combination of a major block grant from the Government, input from the United Council, and fund-raising and charging for services through the community. The committee agreed that council staff should work with the resource centre to present a submission to the Minister of Regional Development and Employment, Mr Burke, to obtain a block grant.