Thames Sports Partnership Project

Thames Community Board has adopted a feasibility study that recommends Council invest in keeping the sports fields at Rhodes Park playable as long as possible, while budgeting in the long term to buy land to secure space for sport in the future.

Rhodes Park is Thames’ main sports park where rugby, football, cricket, touch and netball are played by approximately 850 people.

However, the fields are subject to regular flooding from three sources: the river, the sea and from the high water table under the park. According to calculations in the Council’s Shoreline Management Plan, the fields are expected to become largely unplayable sometime between 2032-2037.

A feasibility study was commissioned in 2023 to investigate options for future sports provision. The study reported that finding land that is free from the risk of flooding and is of sufficient size to accommodate 4-8 playing fields, 6 netball courts and 2-3 cricket ovals was a significant challenge.

The Board asked that Council’s finance team prepare a plan to make provision for buying land for a replacement sports park. This could be at a possible site identified at Kōpū South or at another appropriate site that becomes available.

The study recommended that Council has little option but to retain the current sports facilities at Rhodes Park in the short term. This would mean maintaining the fields to a higher level than is currently budgeted for.

Thames Community Board has recommended to Council that it increase the budget for field maintenance at Rhodes Park from $68,822 per year currently to $208,000 per year in the next Long Term Plan, covering 2027-2037. At a point when fields became unplayable they would be retired one by one. 

The Board also recommended setting up a reserve fund of up to $150,000 in the Long Term Plan that would be used to reinstate Rhodes Park fields after flooding.  

It also asked staff to investigate the following to prolong use of the fields:

• increasing the internal drainage systems by creating deeper swales north and south of the football fields to help reduce surface water
• changing the layout of football and rugby fields to increase utilisation of individual fields while reducing the number of fields
• other methods to increase use of underutilised fields such as lights to increase capacity at night.