ANSWER: When it's a TRAINING ROOM or a CONSULTING ROOM, or maybe a PARENT ROOM in the proposed George Town LINC Hub!
The first attachment was the plan given by Siobhan Gaskell and Jenny Rayner of the Education Dept (LINC) to four "Friends of Regent Square" as recently as 30 June this year to illustrate what was intended in the Hub – we doubt those 'services' have changed in that time.
This was the Education Dept's only attempt at "community consultation" since the Information Forum held in the Hall on 2 Aug 2010.
The TOTAL AREA OF MEETING ROOMS in the proposed Hub is 355 square metres !
FOUR large and ONE very large MEETING rooms – were originally labelled TRAINING rooms
TWO medium MEETING rooms – were originally labelled CONSULTING rooms and
THREE smaller MEETING rooms – one was labelled a PARENT room in an earlier plan
Why does George Town need all these meeting rooms?
When we ENLARGE the small print on the latest Hub plans (see attachment), we see:
PURPOSE OF HUB
The major services in the Hub include:
Child and Family Centre for Children under 5 yrs and their families / carers
Meeting Rooms are for VET [ie Vocational Education Training], Training Providers with access for community groups.
Service Tas. for Govt retail and information, including Driver Testing Facility
Centrelink Access [computers only we assume!]
LINC (Library Information Network Centre), including On-line Access [ie Public Library – not a 'Civic' use!]
We already know that the Hub is to cater for Adult Literacy and Adult Education (re-named LearnXpress) and various aspects of Computer Training,
and the smaller 'meeting rooms' in the Child and Family Centre are more likely to be used as CONSULTING rooms for Child Health & Parenting Services (CHAPS) and other health services that will be relocated from the George Town District Hospital and Community Health Centre.
Sounds very much like "EDUCATION" and "HEALTH" to us!
The Memorial Hall extensions were planned to cater for the needs of this community for the next 50 years, with the Macquarie Room included to provide a suitable meeting room with catering facilities for community groups.
The few groups that used the former SES Room had found other premises when the Online Access Centre was relocated to the Macquarie Room, but the Supper Room is able to be used - as well as areas in the Council Chambers when appropriate.
IF the OAC is relocated – or CLOSED - the Macquarie Room will then be available for community meetings.
The relabelling and inclusion of this large area of "MEETING Rooms" is a deliberate attempt to make the building better fit the 'Civic' use, but it is obvious that their main purpose is "EDUCATION" / "TRAINING" – despite the caution from the Tasmanian Planning Commission during the Amendment Appeal.
We are not likely to need ANY more MEETING Rooms in George Town.
If they are 'meeting rooms' they are going to be surplus to the needs of our community and this building could be much smaller – enabling it to fit somewhere else!
"Friends of Regent Square"
PS
CHECK OUT Part One of the 345 page AGENDA for next Wednesday's Meeting where the Council will act as a Planning Authority to approve or disapprove the Hub:
WARNING – it is 12 MB!
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