Row expected over extra seats

Eden Park bosses say the stadium's World Cup upgrade won't be derailed, despite fierce opposition to further changes.

The latest consent application, to be heard at a hearing starting tomorrow, covers the temporary seats needed to bring the stadium up to the crucial 60,000-seat capacity for the 2011 tournament.

A Government briefing paper obtained under the Official Information Act predicted the consent would be hotly contested by neighbours' groups and said the application must not fail, or "the consequences for all key stakeholders would be dire".

RNZ 2011 boss Martin Snedden has told ministers he's not worried how the consent gets through, as long as it does.

And Eden Park Redevelopment Board chief executive Adam Feeley confirmed the board had drawn contingency plans if the consents were held up, including paying settlements.

But he said there was still room in the construction timetable to allow for a court appeal over the consent, and he played down fears the upgrade would not be completed on time.

The only time-critical factor in the new application was the need to make provision for a western concourse, which the board was asking Auckland City Council to consider separately under a non-notified consent.

If the council didn't agree "we would have some issues," he said.

Consent for final work such as landscaping wasn't needed for a year and in a worst-case scenario, the Government could pass enabling legislation for the consent.

Rugby World Cup Minister Murray McCully said he was still prepared to look at legislation if required, but the project was progressing well.

The stadium is on schedule to be completed by September 2010, 12 months before the tournament.



The board has yet to settle with many residents affected by shading from the south stand, and has not started discussions with a smaller number shaded by changes to the east stand.

The total amount paid out in mitigation is likely to be about $150,000.

Feeley said the board had made fair offers to neighbours, and there was no requirement to complete the process within a set period.

The board was pleased with the latest application, which increases the permanent size of the stadium by 2500 seats.

But some of the 38 submissions in opposition are angry the new design increases noise limits, reduces on-site parking and removes earlier plans for a public park on the outer oval used by Auckland Cricket.

"We understand the depth of feeling and in a perfect world it would be very nice to make the No 2 ground available," said Feeley.

"We simply can't because there is nowhere else for Auckland Cricket to go."

Michael Dodds, who took a confidential payout to compensate for shading of his Reimers Ave property, said he felt "shafted".

"We're really pissed off that we're losing out on that public space because that was a really good thing for the community."

Stephen Farrell said the latest consent removed many, if not all, the community benefits promised by the board.

"Eventually it's going to have to come down to Auckland City Council to decide whether Eden Park is abiding by the terms of its resource consent but from my point of view, it's not."

Eden Park Neighbours Association president and city councillor Mark Donnelly said the association would consider lodging an appeal if the consent was granted.