The long wait for something to happen at Kew Bowl

"We are quite hopeful we will be able to make an announcement about it in the not-too-distant future. Of course, that will be big news for us, and big news for Invercargill."

The old Kew Bowl track cycling site in south Invercargill.

It was 2006 when a then James Hargest College pupil helped call time on Kew Bowl in Invercargill.

Kew Bowl had been the home of track cycling in Southland since 1949.

But when that James Hargest College pupil won the last event, at the last meeting on that old concrete track in 2006, it was time to move on.

Southland track cycling rode from Kew Bowl and headed to its new home - the new indoor velodrome at ILT Stadium Southland - New Zealand’s first indoor velodrome.

That James Hargest College pupil who won that final race was Eddie Dawkins.

After that Dawkins went on to become an Olympian and one of Southland’s greatest sportspeople. His track cycling career included becoming a world champion.

Dawkins is now 35 and well into retirement as a cyclist.

As that remarkable career played out the old Kew Bowl site in south Invercargill remained empty and unused.

All while the ongoing discussion around the need for more housing in the city has played out over many years.

It is still empty and unused 17 years on from Kew Bowl’s last ride.

The Invercargill City Council bought the Kew Bowl site from the Southland Amateur Cycling Association in 2006 to assist in the development of the indoor velodrome at Surrey Park.

In 2010 the old concrete track was demolished in preparation for the council to sell the land.

It took until 2019 for a sale to happen.

Habit for Humanity Invercargill was announced as the buyer, with plans to reduce Invercargill's housing shortage.

"We are very excited for the potential difference this site will have in such a tight housing climate,” then Habit for Humanity Invercargill Paul Searancke said about the purchase in 2019.

"A community consultation process will begin at the end of June and run for two months to ensure the needs of the wider community are met," Searancke went on to say at that time.

Habitat wanted the Kew Bowl site to be used as an affordable, mixed-use housing development to provide a range of housing from seniors to young families – to help combat widespread housing shortages in Invercargill.

There were expected to be between 24 and 29 sections with a mixture of duplexes and stand-alone homes.

Four years on from that land purchase the site remains empty. Although the good news is it seems an announcement might now at least be imminent.

Acting Habit for Humanity Invercargill general manager Ben Ross said plans were progressing.

“In fact, we are quite hopeful we will be able to make an announcement about it in the not-too-distant future. Of course, that will be big news for us, and big news for Invercargill and housing because the need is obviously massive here.

“We are just not quite ready to make an announcement while we are working with some other partners behind the scenes.

“I can’t probably put a time frame on [an announcement] but it’s weeks or months away, not years.”

A potential announcement will be welcomed by those with concerns about Invercargill’s housing supply.

The Kew Bowl site was viewed as an ideal piece of land in the quest to ease Invercargill’s housing shortage.

It’s right on the doorstep of the South City shopping city and is within an already established residential area.

Housing has been a hot topic within the Invercargill City Council this term.

Mayor Nobby Clark and Cr Ian Pottinger have been particularly vocal about the need to free up land and engage developers to get things cracking.

In a Stuff column, Clark pointed to housing be the biggest issue for the city.

“But the biggest risk is housing – the volume, quality and appropriateness for future needs. This has been talked about for at least two decades, with it all being too hard to fix.

“Government has promised many new houses, as we remember KiwiBuild and subsequently delivered little.

“So, your council and I are doing something about these complex issues.”

In August Clark indicted there was a developer willing to pay $6 million for 5ha of the Donovan Park land that the council is considering selling.

At the time Clark cited potential for joint venture projects that could help address the city’s need for more housing.

Pottinger has also recently stated “less talk more action” is needed to help boost the city’s housing stock.

“[There’s] too much talk and not enough action when it comes to freeing up land to build houses, it is going to catch up with us and we are going to be in the crap.”

Beyond 2025 project lead Bobbi Brown previously addressed the Invercargill City Council.

Brown said the headline shouldn’t be that Southland is “X number” of houses short.

“It’s not about numbers, it’s about our demographic makeup,” Brown says.

53% of Southland’s housing stock are three-bedroom homes, compared to 43% nationally.

At the moment there are on average 2.6 people per house in Southland, but that is expected to drop to 2.1 as the population continues to age.

“If we have lots of single older folk, we will need more houses…. If you have lots of families you need less houses. It’s about how we are as a community and demographic makeup that’s really important.

“We are going to have more older people in the future, any scenario shows that. Southland already has a higher aging population than other parts of the country.

“Our current houses don’t meet our current needs, so how are we going to meet future population needs?”

Meanwhile, there is a residential development planned for the 70-ha block of land between Tramway Rd and Centre St, flanked by Rockdale Road and Regent Street.

The Te Puawai residential subdivision in east Invercargill was announced in late 2020, although main consents have not yet been applied for.

About 900 lots are expected to be available in the subdivision.