Papakura Rugby Club has been granted leases on land at Massey Park and Southern Park on Beach Road.
The leases come with an annual $1 fee and were granted for 10 years with right of renewal.
The land can only be used for rugby and ancillary purposes, but the club can sub-let a portion of the building to Counties Manukau Rugby.
The decision means public notification of the intention to grant a lease can take place, with the Papakura Local Board chair able to appoint a hearings panel to consider objections.
The club was granted a lease on Massey Park in 1999 for 20 years. That lease expired in March. Because the club is allowed for in the Massey Park Reserve Management Plan, public notification and iwi consultation was not required.
But the club’s Southern Park building lease expired in 2017 and the club asked for the lease dates to be brought into line.
That lease covers land classified as a recreation reserve without a management plan, which makes public notification and iwi engagement compulsory.
The Papakura Town Board resolved in 1912 to grant the club the use of Massey Park (then the Railway Reserve/Pahurehure Domain) for the season for a fee of one pound and the club has played there almost continuously ever since.
Disaster struck in 1973 when the clubrooms were destroyed by fire, with records and photos all lost. Fundraising to replace the building with a base for athletics, basketball, softball and cricket took place, with the club back in action in 1974 and new clubrooms officially opened in 1979.
Today the club has about 500 members.
The Counties sublease allows the ground floor of the building to be a base gym and offices for the high-performance unit.
