The future of the Auckland Showgrounds, tipped to be leased by a film company, is now the subject of a High Court case. Photo / Supplied
The future use of Auckland Showgrounds hangs in the balance pending the outcome of a court case next week. Jane Phare reports.
An Auckland businessman is launching a High Court challenge in a last-ditch attempt to stop the Auckland Showgrounds from coming under the control of a film company.
Brent Spillane is taking on the Cornwall Park Trust Board as a private citizen, arguing that leasing the showgrounds to Auckland's Xytech Studio Management, which runs the X3 Studios in Wiri, contravenes a 40-year-old statute, the Cornwall Park Endowment & Recreation Act 1982. Spillane's legal team has asked Attorney General David Parker to oversee the case, which is set down for Monday.
This year the trust, which owns both Cornwall Park and the 8.2ha showgrounds, considered two tenders for the lease - one from Xytech and one from Coast Group which owns Carlton Party Hire, Exhibition Hire Services, and Showlight & Power.
Coast Group learned its bid was unsuccessful in March, leaving Xytech as the top contender. Although the Cornwall Park Trust Board has continued to say no decision has been made on the future leaseholder, in early April Xytech applied to the Auckland Council for a certificate of compliance and resource consent to use the showgrounds site for "events and filming activities".
Asked again by the Herald this week if a decision had been made, and other questions, a trust board spokesperson said the matters were shortly to be the subject of a court hearing.
"The trust board cannot answer questions about what might happen following the court's decision until that decision is known," the statement said.
This week Xytech put its council applications on hold, according to Auckland Council. The applications have not been withdrawn. In extensive documents prepared by planning and resource management specialists Campbell Brown, Xytech said it wanted to use the site for the filming of movies and television series, but that it could be used for concerts, events and exhibitions at other times. Its resource consent application relates to the use of existing vehicle access routes. Xytech did not respond to questions from the Herald.
In Xytech's applications, the company said it anticipated using the site for filming movies and TV series for four years. Those activities would include filming, the use of buildings and offices, the design and manufacture of sets, costumes and props, prop and set storage, temporary set construction, and the use of food and catering facilities.
Xytech said it would not substantially alter the existing buildings apart from inserting sound insulation. The site could be used for events and exhibitions when not being used for filming activities.
Part of the site would be reserved for event-related activities, including the Logan Campbell Centre concert venue and the nearby carpark.
The events and exhibitions sector has responded angrily, with one major exhibitor describing Xytech's proposal as nothing more than "tokenism". They say that sharing the site would mean only small events could be held in between busy filming schedules, and that suggestions of co-sharing the space during sensitive filming projects with strict noise controls and privacy issues were not plausible.
They point out that major exhibitions like the New Zealand Boat Show, the Auckland Food Show, the Auckland Home Show and the Covi Motorhome, Caravan & Outdoor SuperShow took up the whole site. Show organisers need to confirm a venue booking at least a year ahead.
The current lease on the showgrounds expires in less than three weeks, potentially leaving major exhibitions without a venue. Events booked after June 30 include the Auckland Food Show, the Auckland Home Show, The Baby Show, Pet Expo, Foodtech Packtech, Kids Day Out and the Spring Gift & Homewares Fair. Many of the regular shows are booked years in advance.
Alarmed that the biannual Gift Fairs may be in jeopardy, the New Zealand Gift Trade Association, which represents more than 300 businesses, has asked the Environment Court for clarification of the allowed uses for the site. Committee member Jerome Fill, who owns gift wholesaler Parnell Agencies, says there is no other exhibition centre that can cope with the size of the shows it hosts.
He says thousands of New Zealand retailers come through the shows each day, many of them the owners of small-to-medium-sized enterprises from all over New Zealand.
"It's their one chance to see products from a wide range in one location. They all come to Auckland to stay. They're out spending and looking at shops."
The next Gift Fair is due to run at the end of August but Fill, like other exhibitors, is not sure if it will go ahead. Those involved in events and exhibitions fear the transfer of the site's lease to a film studio would effectively block out major shows including the Royal Easter Show.
For its part, the trust board says it needs to act in the best interests of Cornwall Park. The trust relies on income from nearby leasehold homes and the showgrounds site to maintain the park.
Auckland Council says it cannot afford to take over the showgrounds lease given its $900 million Covid-19 blowout. Last month it put its west Auckland film studios up for sale, after the Government granted $30 million for a 2021 upgrade shortly before Amazon announced it would end the production of Lord of the Rings.
Spillane, who is managing director of major event company XPO, says Xytech's proposal will prevent thousands of exhibitors and SMEs from using the site each year, causing a multimillion-dollar blow to Auckland's economy.
The showgrounds is the only venue in the Auckland region capable of hosting major exhibitions because of its infrastructure including load-bearing floors, air reticulation systems and access ways, he says.
Spillane's legal team has written to Parker to invite him to oversee the High Court proceedings on the basis that the Attorney General has the appropriate standing to ask the court to uphold the 1982 act, and that he has jurisdiction and oversight of trustees of charitable trusts. Spillane is funding the legal challenge as a private citizen, arguing that the issue is a matter of wider public concern. He is yet to hear back from Parker about next week's case.
"I'm outraged at having to bring this legal case forward when this may have been resolved consultatively. We were never given that opportunity."
Spillane acknowledges that the pandemic, lockdowns and border closures have played havoc with the events and exhibitions industry in the past two years. But as has been witnessed overseas, the global recovery of events is gathering pace.
He points out that 900,000 visitors attended the Sydney Royal Easter Show - more than pre-Covid - and the Melbourne Australian Grand Prix that sold out weeks beforehand. In Auckland, last month's Boat Show was attended by tens of thousands of visitors and his company, XPO, has run three equally successful shows in recent weeks - the Autumn Gift Fair, the Wellington Food Show and the manufacturing and engineering industry trade show EMEX. Spillane says there is high demand across the 18 shows the company runs.
"Trade shows and exhibitions have run for many centuries so it's crucial we preserve this events infrastructure for future generations."
Hear from four of the company's executives in this episode of Markets with Madison.