Under Alert Level 2, Wellington City Council will reopen most of its facilities and resume many of its services and programmes – but there will be restrictions in place to keep staff and the community safe.
Swimming pools, gyms, recreation centres, playgrounds, skate parks, sports pavilions, and the Berhampore golf course will all be up and running again, and acting manager of parks, sport and recreation Sarah Murray says it’s exciting to be able to open up the doors to sport and recreation activities again.
"Keeping active and healthy is more important than ever, for both our physical and mental health, and we want to support everyone to safely get back into their favourite activities whether that’s in a park, on a sportsfield, in a pool or in an indoor facility."
But Sarah wants to remind everyone that sport and recreation in Wellington will look and feel a little different under Level 2, as there will still be many restrictions in place.
"Though our facilities will open, they won’t be how you remember them before the COVID-19 lockdown.
"Our number one priority right now is keeping our staff and community safe, and we ask for your patience and co-operation as we adjust to a new way of operating.
"Not all our facilities and programmes will be available straight away, so check out our COVID-19 section on the website when it gets updated with Alert Level 2 information tomorrow night. That’ll have the latest on what’s available and when your local facility will be back up and running."
The Council are putting in place contact tracing measures across all indoor facilities. If you are not already a member of the pools, gyms or recreation centres, you must enrol your details into the system to allow contact tracing. Some facilities will also be using the Rippl App.
Mayor Andy Foster says this technology is making it easier for people to get back to work and play at Alert Level 2.
"We needed a secure, easy-to-use contact tracing app, to allow our Council services and facilities to reopen, but one that also protected peoples’ information and privacy – and Rippl ticked all those boxes.
"With most of Council’s leisure services, facilities and activities starting up again, we are using this app alongside our other membership systems so everyone can have more freedom to move around the city with an added level of protection."
