Proposal to sell land used for gigs

Brewers Bar managing director Glenn Meikle wants to be continue using the land next to his bar for events. Photo / Andrew Warner

The council-owned reserve used by Brewers Bar for music gigs may be sold in two years - but Councillor Matt Cowley wants events to still be staged on the land.

Tauranga City Council considers the land, which has been issued with resource consents in the past to run events, as surplus to requirement and hopes to raise $2.6 million from its sale.

It has not decided whether the whole parcel of land, known as Soper Park, will be sold off or whether part will be retained.

Councillor Matt Cowley was against the plan and said at deliberations last week that it was an issue he would like to campaign on.

Speaking to the Bay of Plenty Times yesterday, Mr Cowley said the reserve held a lot of events, especially during Tauranga's peak season and this was why he wanted to stop the sale.

"There is already a shortage of things for young people to do, particularly over summer. There is a lot of demand at Coronation Park and Blake Park - we're starting to get a real shortage of reserves. I wanted the councillors to know we can't have an inconsistent event strategy where we want more events but we want to sell venues."

Mr Cowley said music gigs and concerts did not score well on the council's events framework as a lot of the money went to promoters and artists. "The private sector is willing to get these gigs and concerts happening, particularly for the young and young at heart, they run it without any help and support at all.

"This is a critically important space, particularly in the summer time. The council might sell off one or two of the sites within that plot, which could be a happy medium we could achieve without impacting events."

Brewers Bar managing director Glenn Meikle said the reserve land was a good venue for events. He said the council was spending money on events, yet the council wanted to get rid of a venue where gigs were held at no expense to ratepayers.

"[The council is] spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, millions over the years, trying to bring people to events. Every year, we bring 10,000 people to this field to listen to music and it doesn't cost them any money."

Mr Meikle said he would be keen on buying part of the land for future events. "There's plenty of land there, we don't need to use all of it."

The bar's resource consent for the land runs out this year and Mr Meikle said he likely would not reapply as he would be denied due to the potential sale of the reserve.

Councillor Kelvin Clout said the council had a need to divest itself of assets that were not required.