Battleground over Hagley Park development

GEOFF LONGLEY - The Press

Last updated 05:00 15/01/2011

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DEAN KOZANIC/The Press

BANKED UP: Canterbury captain Peter Fulton hits to the legside during a first-class match against Auckland at QEII's Village Green. Canterbury Cricket chief executive Lee Germon says the bank at the proposed test venue at Hagley Oval would not be as high as the one at the New Brighton venue.

A proposed development at Hagley Oval will enhance the ground, not detract from it, Canterbury Cricket's chief executive Lee Germon believes.

He rejects public criticism of plans to build an embankment at the southern end of the ground and replace the existing Old Boys Collegians pavilion with a bigger facility to bring the ground up to the standard required to host test matches.Canterbury Cricket has been without a venue of that quality since leaving AMI Stadium in 2005 when it was converted into a rugby-specific ground ahead of the Rugby World Cup.Germon said there had been misinformation circulating about the proposal."I would just ask that people reserve their judgement until all the facts are in front of them," he said.

That is likely to be later in the year, when a public consent hearing should be held. Canterbury Cricket and the Christchurch City Council are finalising their plans for the ground and these should be presented to councillors late next month or March.Germon said an embankment at the southern end of the ground would not block any views into the park from passers-by."It is only going to be a gently sloping, low-rise bank, not as high as the one at the QEII's Village Green. It would be more akin to the one at Rugby Park," he said.There were already other banks in the park, including by the netball courts, which caused no offence, Germon said.Initially Canterbury Cricket had investigated upgrading the existing OBC pavilion to international standard, but the building was in some disrepair and it was more effective to replace it. That would meet International Cricket Council specifications in regard to changing room sizes and facilities for officials and the media.Several options are being considered and Germon confirmed that any building erected would be larger than the existing one.However, there was allowance in the Hagley Park Management Plan for a building to be constructed "in keeping with the the character of Hagley Oval".A significant modern structure was built on the Hagley netball courts in the 1990s.The size of the cricket building had yet to be determined and Canterbury Cricket was still in talks with the council, Germon said.Initially, Canterbury Cricket tried to secure the Canterbury Horticultural Centre building, a former base for Canterbury Cricket.That plan was shelved and the Canterbury Horticultural Society is likely to remain."That would be hosting a test match and some Canterbury games," he said.There would be a maximum of 10 days a year when the ground would be used with fencing and temporary seating, Germon said.The temporary fencing and seating would be removed immediately after cricket matches and would not be an eyesore, he said.A traffic study showed that hosting matches at Hagley Park would not adversely affect traffic flows or parking. Several options existed as possible car parks in the ground, he said.Hagley Oval was the game's spiritual home and a central base would help draw people backinto the city, Germon said..The former New Zealand captain said there was a perception that Canterbury could just "rock up" to QEII Park and stage a test match but that was untrue.Neither the ground nor the pavilion there met the stringent ICC warrant-of-fitness standards for hosting test cricket. Grounds of smaller size that had previously hosted test cricket had been exempt from the recently introduced ruling."Unfortunately, the boundaries at QEII are not big enough and would require the bank having to be levelled and pushed back."The pavilion is barely up to first-class standard for the size of dressing rooms, let alone test level," Germon said.A study showed it was more cost-effective to develop Hagley Oval than to upgrade QEII Park or build a new ground at Curletts Rd, which had been a previous proposal, he said.The council's grant of about $1 million that had been earmarked was only to cover on-ground work, such as the embankment and wicket-block development, he said.Canterbury Cricket had established a trust to raise the $3m for the pavilion, Germon said.

Bouncers fired at Hagley cricket plan

NICK TOLERTON | 14th January 2011  

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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.

Pathetic attendance levels will cost Christchurch

TONY SMITH - THE BALD FACTS - The Press

Last updated 05:00 08/01/2011

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OPINION: What's up with Christchurch sports fans and their marked reluctance to venture east of Fitzgerald Ave for major sporting events?

This week, we've heard that only 3000 tickets have been sold for the International Paralympics Committee's (IPC) world championship – just one-fifth of the capacity at QEII Stadium.

Canterbury United's crowds – never much more than 1000 at English Park – have dipped disturbingly since their temporary shift to Linfield Park in Bromley.

And, dear old Canterbury Cricket – still flying boldly in the face of public opinion – is maintaining its pathetic bid for a test ground on the hallowed Hagley Park turf lest their purists have to travel to QEII's eminently suitable Village Green ground.

The Paralympics are an elite sporting event, by any standard. Sure, there's no Usain Bolt there, but you try beating Oscar Pistorius, South Africa's acclaimed Blade Runner, on a lap of the QEII track. The 24-year-old, dubbed the Fastest Man on No Legs, can run 46.5sec for the 400m. He once won the South Africa able-bodied championships title. Yet, there's no guarantee Pistorius will win gold in Christchurch.

Now, it could be argued that the event's local organisers have hardly bombarded the market with promotional reminders. But the world will be watching. If Christchurch can't come to the party with decent crowds, don't expect to attract events of this magnitude again.

The IPC championships have attracted 1000 athletes, 900 officials, 600 supporters and 125 media. That's a lot of hotel rooms which would otherwise be emptyish in January, at a time the city is still reeling from an economic recession and a crippling earthquake.

But we shouldn't be surprised at Christchurch's apparent indifference to an international event in our own backyard. QEII has hardly drawn big crowds since the full-house signs for the 1974 Commonwealth Games.

There seems to be a mindset on the western side of this city that North New Brighton is a journey too far to watch international sport. This, despite the ring-road system, which makes the stadium much more accessible, via QEII drive.

I've heard it said, from people who think nothing of holidaying in Nelson or the Marlborough Sounds, that there are 20-something sets of traffic lights between QEII and Halswell.

Perhaps it's a symptom of the cable television age, where top sport is beamed into our living rooms.

But, the more middle class the code, the more aversion there seems to be at straying too far from the city. And you don't get much more middle class than cricket and football in New Zealand.

We're fickle folk in Canterbury sport. It still surprises me that 14,000 will turn out at AMI Stadium to watch the Wellington Phoenix, yet Canterbury United can't attract 1400 for national league matches.That's the problem? Worried the car will be pinched on the east side of the divide? Too wimpish to endure the old beastly easterly?

Granted, there's a yawning gulf in quality between the fully professional A-League and the ASB premiership. But it wasn't that long ago that men like Ben Sigmund and boy wonder Marco Rojas were playing at that lower level and they seem to have stepped up without too much trouble.

Canterbury United officials have had texts this season from supposedly stalwart football fans asking the score at Linfield Park. When asked why they're not there, they've complained it's too far from home. Try telling that to fans from lower league clubs in England, who think nothing of travelling from Devon to the northeast to follow their favourite team.

Admittedly, the Canterbury Dragons haven't won a game since November. But they still have a decent team led by All White Aaron Clapham. The atmosphere, and pristine pitch, at Linfield Park are as good as English Park, the sport's spiritual home here.

But if any sporting organisation is guilty of biting the hand that feeds it, it must be Canterbury Cricket, which has benefited immensely from city ratepayers' largesse with the Village Green development. Not content, it now wants another $1m from the public purse for its harebrained Hagley Park move.

Lee Germon and his team should face the fact that Plunket Shield and test cricket are not major spectator sports. Even the last Twenty20 international at AMI Stadium struggled to draw a crowd. Village Green is more than adequate for the Canterbury team's needs. It could also be upgraded as a test venue.

Moreover, it is based in a pre-existing sports complex cluster. It would be much more appropriate to establish a fully enclosed ground there than at Hagley Park, which was only ever meant for recreational sport and passive pastimes.

Hagley Park is a jewel in Christchurch's crown, testimony to the vision of the early settlers who saw a need to set aside and preserve public green space. It's a communal taonga. The last thing it needs is a test cricket enclosure. Move it to QEII – cricket's natural home of the future – and keep Hagley Park free for senior club and junior cricket.

Hagley Park in the Press

The Press 27 Dec 2010
Squaring the oval

The proposal to construct a test cricket ground in South Hagley Park sets up a potent clash of interests that will produce a classic Christchurch row.
In opposition are two entrenched groups that can trace their origins back to the foundation of the city: those who love cricket – and particularly the test variety – and those who cherish the great park. Neither will spare its shot in a battle over those fundamental Christchurch things.
Hagley and cricket have been entwined since the first year of the colony – 1851 – when the Christchurch Cricket Club and the park were formed and the game played on the tussocky sward. Since then, Hagley has always hosted cricket – sometimes international cricket.
What drove tests away was the need to extract ticket money from onlookers, and for that a fenced and gated ground was needed. Lancaster Park provided the needed moneymaking facilities and became the settled venue for many memorable test matches over the decades.
But the times have changed for cricket. Its test match variety – with its slow evolution over several days and periods of tedium to all but the aficionados – does not pull the crowds as the shorter versions do. Needed is a small-capacity ground with access only by way of turnstiles.
Canterbury Cricket has sweated over the problem and found nothing to suit its needs, other than the current proposal to build embankments around Hagley Oval and construct facilities for the media, players and administrators.
The plan has value. Implemented, it would allow Christchurch to again regularly be host of test cricket – for the first time since 2006 – and maintain citizens’ interest of the greatest version of the game. It would also allow central city residents and those working in the central business district the opportunity to indulge themselves with that pleasurable diversion of dropping in to see a session of a cricket test match.
No-one would deny that happy combination of amenity and public interest were it not for the sacred status of Hagley Park. A great many citizens regard its unimpeded expanse and openness to all as a fundamental contributor to the quality of life in Christchurch.
That passionate sentiment was famously demonstrated in the successful battle to keep a multi-lane highway from bisecting the park – a battle that defeated a mayor and established people power as a strong force in the city.
The cricket proposal is running headlong into the camp of the Hagley preservationists. They are articulate and persuasive, and they have the clout to maintain their position through every court in the land. They also have an effective case to put.
The new cricket ground would radically change the look of South HagleyPark: the embankments would be 1.8 metres high and the facilities building would be three storeys high with a large footprint. This would clutter the vista that the park presents today.
The proposal has suddenly come to the attention of the wider public, and this has produced the accusation that the plan has been hatched in secret. That is not the case. Its evolution has been regularly reported by The Press. It is also incorrect that the public is not being consulted. That will happen next year.
The arguments will not be harmonious. The passion behind this issue means that reaching broad agreement will be as hard a squaring the oval

· The Press 4 Jan 2011
Wrong priorities 

How can the Christchurch City Council justify spending a million dollars developing a test cricket ground on Hagley Oval after what’s happened to the city this year? They need to get their priorities right.
How can they, in combination with Canterbury Cricket, even think of ruining this historic ground for the sake of gaining a test match once every three or four years? For over a hundred years this oval has been used by local cricketers, and what a pleasure it is every Saturday to see players of all ages and varying ability using this facility.
This will practically disappear if this project goes ahead because a high bank will engulf a lot of the ground and restrict its use. Many local cricketers won’t play test cricket.
Leave Hagley Park be and use the already developed Village Green.
GARRY STRAW
Bromley

The Press 25 Dec 2010
Must consult citizens about Hagley Park development

 In August 2007, following a comprehensive review of numerous proposals, including some 600 public submissions, the CCC announced a new master plan for the management of Hagley Park and the Botanic Gardens.
Twenty-four proposed projects were adopted and seven projects rejected. Among those rejected was enclosing the Hagley cricket oval with a fence.
How is it that we now have a proposal for a new major development, including enclosing the existing cricket ground with a 1.8-metre-high embankment?
Given the exhaustive public consultation followed in 2007, for the council to now suggest it need consult only with directly affected neighbours is a serious breach of faith and an insult to the many Christchurch citizens who contributed to the master plan.
By any standards the cricket ground proposal is a major development, and if approved will have a significant impact on the park’s inherent landscape character and considerable implications for public access and use.
Few cities in the world can boast such a magnificent and vast area of green open space at their heart, as provided by the park.
The Reserve Ordinance passed in 1856 declared that ‘‘the land commonly known as Hagley Park, shall be reserved forever as a public park and shall be open for the recreation and enjoyment of the public’’.
This council, as present guardian, needs to be reminded of the park’s original purpose, and also the passion with which citizens have always defended their right to be consulted on any matter that might compromise the park’s inherent character and purpose. Canterbury Cricket. Then there was a proposal to build a special cricket facility in the Christ’s College grounds of South Hagley Park, which was soundly rejected by the community and the CCC Hagley Park Development Plan.
Now there is a proposal to construct an amphitheatre in South Hagley Park made up of thousands of tons of fill and soil – an environmental barrier restricting access to this beautiful public space.
They are also proposing a three-storey building with a footprint and floor area that far exceeds the existing High School Old Boys’ facilities, when the same CCC Hagley Park Development Plan says there should be no more building in Hagley Park.
For an officer of the Christchurch City Council to suggest that parking is not an issue is also ridiculous – just ask hospital workers, attendees at the Canterbury Horticultural Society, Hagley College students and visitors to the park.
They know there is a huge shortage of parking now, without trying to accommodate the additional parking that will be required for the new hospital development and the increasing number of school sports.
 NEIEL DRAIN Burnside IAIN CLARK Manager Canterbury Horticultural Society Central Christchurch WAI WONG Burnside

The Press · 25 Dec 2010
Not consulted

Who made the decision to use Hagley Oval as a cricket test venue? New Zealand Cricket, the Canterbury Cricket Association or the city council?
As Carole Anderton rightly pointed out (Dec 21), there has been no apparent consultation on a project that would change the character of Christchurch’s iconic open space.
Is it appropriate to create a test venue at the oval? It is a natural oval, in its entirety. Lopping off one quarter (there are four prepared wicket blocks) and establishing seating – temporary or permanent? – will put the other blocks out of action, except possibly the southernmost one.
The obvious alternative is QE11 Village Green. It is too small as a test arena, but two sides of the grassed banking can be shifted and the stand/pavilion can be relocated.
Unlike the oval, there is ample on-site parking and the outfield is beautifully grassed. And it would be a permanent venue.
It was a pleasure to play on the oval in my youth. It was and still is, with Elmwood Park, the finest venue for club cricket in Christchurch. Let’s keep it that way. disasters have (without undue delay) resulted in multi-million dollars of aid from New Zealand.
JIM HUDSON Burnside RICK SAMUELS Hillsborough MURRAY HORTON Secretary, Cafca Central Christchurch 

The Press · 21 Dec 2010
Our trust abused

It beggars belief that the community hasn’t been consulted on plans to install a cricket oval in Hagley Park. And to learn that engineers have already prepared detailed plans and the ground is to be opened next year makes the suggestion of previous consultation ridiculous and is a further abuse of trust that we have come to expect from the city council.
Has anyone stopped to consider what a cricket oval would look like? Its high banks would block the natural flow and vista of the green open space that earned us the title of the Garden City, all for the sake of three or four games of cricket a year.
QEII was expensively renovated for cricket use, so why can’t it be upgraded?
As a passionate champion and supporter of Christchurch’s parks and gardens, I urge that this plan is scrapped now.
Our visionary forefathers blessed us by designing Christchurch around a beautiful green open space that is the envy of countries around the world. Hagley Park belongs to every one of us and should never be considered in terms of land for development – ever.
CAROLE ANDERTON Addington

The Press  17 Dec 2010
For the seagulls

The CCC should not be spending $1m doing up Hagley Oval for test matches. The clappedout cricketers need only a few old apple cases dotted around the boundary. It won’t be long before the seagulls outnumber the spectators at test cricket.
The CCC should fund a new Lake William, adjacent to Lake Victoria, with a revolving stage on water where the ratepayers could enjoy concerts. It could even incorporate that what-do-you-call it flower

 CHRIS BRADY Papanui