Bouncers fired at Hagley cricket plan
BOWLED OUT: Opposition continues against a plan to play test cricket at Hagley Park.
IT'S TIME for the city council to come clean about the plans for a test cricket ground at Hagley Oval.
That's the call of the Canterbury Horticultural Society, the oval's neighbour, which fears Hagley Park will be dramatically changed if a big stand and embankment go up, and predicts parking problems will be hugely increased.
Mayor Bob Parker says the council responded to an approach from Canterbury Cricket and any redevelopment would have to go through the consent process.
The society and even some cricket officials The Star talked to say they're in the dark about the project, with several variations being aired.
"The council's been extremely remiss in not providing information on what the project exactly is," said CHS manager Iain Clark.
There was "far too much Secret Squirrel" and the public should be fully informed about the plan.
The society hadn't seen or received a final plan - "and you'll find it pretty hard to nail it down," he said.
They'd first heard the building would be in the footprint of the old HSOB pavilion, then that there would be a three-storey building with one floor below ground, and now that there would be an enormous two-storey building.
"But we don't know," he said.
"It could be any or none."
Similarly there had been three variations talked about for the embankment, including a 1.8m tall bank, 30m wide at the base, which would require "thousands of tonnes of soil.
"Any structure, and I would call a 1.8m embankment a large structure, is out of character entirely (for Hagley)," he said.It would alter the vista of the park.No attempt had been made to address the question of access, and parking was impossible now on many days with Hagley College, the hospital, the medical school, and park and botanical gardens users all using the area, he pointed out. Mr Parker said Canterbury Cricket approached the city council, and the council said it was prepared to support the idea providing cricket got the approval and support of all the clubs which used the oval. If it was to go ahead and cricket got all its ducks lined up, the city council had agreed in 2009 on a $1m grant to help upgrade the oval to host test cricket. However, any redevelopment would have to go through the resource consent process. The raised earth bank seemed to be the only issue, he said."There's plenty of room for further discussion," said Mr Parker."Nothing's a fait accompli - there's no secret council agenda."Mr Clark pointed out planning to change Hagley Park cost a previous mayor (Ron Guthrey in 1971) his job, but Mr Parker said the oval decision was not his call."It's a community call, and all the council is doing is responding to a community group."Canterbury Cricket CEO Lee Germon did not return a call from The Star yesterday, and council recreation and sport manager John Filsell did not reply to questions about the project.
That's the call of the Canterbury Horticultural Society, the oval's neighbour, which fears Hagley Park will be dramatically changed if a big stand and embankment go up, and predicts parking problems will be hugely increased.
Mayor Bob Parker says the council responded to an approach from Canterbury Cricket and any redevelopment would have to go through the consent process.
The society and even some cricket officials The Star talked to say they're in the dark about the project, with several variations being aired.
"The council's been extremely remiss in not providing information on what the project exactly is," said CHS manager Iain Clark.
There was "far too much Secret Squirrel" and the public should be fully informed about the plan.
The society hadn't seen or received a final plan - "and you'll find it pretty hard to nail it down," he said.
They'd first heard the building would be in the footprint of the old HSOB pavilion, then that there would be a three-storey building with one floor below ground, and now that there would be an enormous two-storey building.
"But we don't know," he said.
"It could be any or none."
Similarly there had been three variations talked about for the embankment, including a 1.8m tall bank, 30m wide at the base, which would require "thousands of tonnes of soil.
"Any structure, and I would call a 1.8m embankment a large structure, is out of character entirely (for Hagley)," he said.It would alter the vista of the park.No attempt had been made to address the question of access, and parking was impossible now on many days with Hagley College, the hospital, the medical school, and park and botanical gardens users all using the area, he pointed out. Mr Parker said Canterbury Cricket approached the city council, and the council said it was prepared to support the idea providing cricket got the approval and support of all the clubs which used the oval. If it was to go ahead and cricket got all its ducks lined up, the city council had agreed in 2009 on a $1m grant to help upgrade the oval to host test cricket. However, any redevelopment would have to go through the resource consent process. The raised earth bank seemed to be the only issue, he said."There's plenty of room for further discussion," said Mr Parker."Nothing's a fait accompli - there's no secret council agenda."Mr Clark pointed out planning to change Hagley Park cost a previous mayor (Ron Guthrey in 1971) his job, but Mr Parker said the oval decision was not his call."It's a community call, and all the council is doing is responding to a community group."Canterbury Cricket CEO Lee Germon did not return a call from The Star yesterday, and council recreation and sport manager John Filsell did not reply to questions about the project.
No comments:
Post a Comment