Relocation of Council animal pound and SPCA shelter underway

The Taupo-Kaingaroa/Mangakino-Pouakani Committee has approved plans for the construction of a new purpose-built SPCA shelter and stock and dog pound on a new site.

The current Council dog pound which is nearing the end of its life, and the SPCA have been in unsatisfactory conditions for some time, so plans have been made to move both facilities to a new site on Centennial Drive. This will allow the construction of a new purpose-built SPCA building and a combined Council dog and stock pound.

Chairman of TKMP, Cr Kathryn Uvhagen said that retaining a shared location for both organisations makes perfect sense. “It will provide efficiencies and is long over-due.”

“We really need to improve on the current situation and provide custom-made facilities, not only for the animals, but also the hard working staff and volunteers,” she said.

Group Manager, Environmental Services Gareth Green said negotiations with Contact Energy Limited, who own the site on Centennial Drive, needed to be finalised but tenders for construction of the facilities will soon be called for, and all going well he would expect work to be underway this year.

Costs for the total project are estimated to be around $1.2M. Of this approximately $580,000 will be paid by the SPCA, with the remainder being unbudgeted expenditure that TKMP will fund. Ongoing costs will be included in the ten year plan ‘Towards 2019’.

SPCA Strategic and Project Manager, Faye Johnson says the SPCA is delighted as this was the first, extremely important step in getting the project up and running. “What this means is that we will now be finalising our plans for the new building, it will go out for building tender and we will get firmed up costs of the project.”

“It also means the SPCA can officially start their major fundraising effort,” she said.

Mayor Rick Cooper congratulated staff on the use of internal resources to design the buildings and produce plans for consent and construction purposes, instead of employing consultants.
“I am pleased to hear a significant amount of money has been saved by using skills that we have across the organisation to produce quality plans for the new building which include smart features like solar power, water re-use and using sustainable materials,” said the Mayor.