Shifting Welcome Bay Scouts and Girl Guides over the hill to Hairini has been approved in principle by Tauranga City Council and NZTA is to begin the consenting process.

The Baden Powell Centre on Welcome Bay Road is in the middle of the planned Hairini Link from the underpass at Maungatapu, and is to be demolished to make way for the project.

The Baden Powell Centre is set to be demolished to make way for the Hairini Link Project.

The council approval granted this week is subject to the outcome of the publicly notified consent process required for NZTA to build a replacement hall at Ila Park on Harrisfield Drive.

NZTA will be paying for the new building and costs, such as geotechnical investigations, resource consent and the associated consultation process. The Ila Park hall also brings forward council plans for Ila Park's development.

Ila Park is 3.36ha section in two lots. The developed side of the reserve has a playground and the other is grazing lease.

There is $396,000 in council funding put aside to develop Ila park in 2025, including a carpark, sub-soil draining, riparian planting, and a pedestrian bridge over the stream. The timing will be reconsidered in the 2015/25 Ten Year Plan. The hall will have a 15 lot car park.

The decision was made in conjunction with NZTA, the Welcome Bay Scout Group and Welcome Bay Girl Guides. NZTA is required to replace like-for-like.

'It's a roading project so we can't really object to that, but personally the Ila Park option is reasonably convenient,” says Scouts NZ regional development manager Rob Robilliard.

'It's not a long way away from Welcome Bay hall, not even two kilometres. Unfortunately it's not quite in Welcome Bay, but we also look at it from what is the future development.”

In previous decades scout halls were often placed on council reserves, but that's changed, says Rob with councils now attempting to keep reserves clear.

The new Scout hall will have the same exterior size, but some flexibility with the internal design allowing for more internal space, says Rob.

'We would like to rebuild whole scout group,” says Rob.

'We want that community to be involved in that Scout group. Beyond that area there's a whole lot of new development, a lot of potential for the development of the scout group.”

He's hoping the new hall will be in operation by the middle of next year.