Details of Rotorua’s newly announced community hub have been shared as the district’s council works to improve safety after two bashings near bus stops and amid concerns about crime in the CBD.

Rotorua Lakes Council has been working with the police on a Community Safety Plan, which included a goal to halve violent crime and antisocial behaviour in the CBD by 2026.

Community and district development group manager Jean-Paul Gaston updated elected members on the plan’s progress at a meeting on Wednesday, including details about the inner-city hub announced last month after two attacks on teens in the CBD.

Gaston told the meeting the key to the hub was that it would be under constant review.

Economic development manager Julie-May Ellingson said a two-year lease had been signed for the hub at 1161 Hinemoa St, near the Tūtānekai St intersection.

The space was previously used for retail and is near where a building with a similar purpose was knocked down in 2015 as part of the City Focus redevelopment.

Aims for the hub included building confidence in inner-city safety; improving safety; decreasing anti-social behaviour and crime; and improving the visibility of police, the council’s Safe City Guardians and Māori wardens.

They would work in the hub alongside an inner-city operations manager, community support officer and Neighbourhood Support volunteers. It would open six days a week.

She said the space chosen was the best option in terms of cost, visibility and availability.

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