John MacDonald: Time to kick consultation on Christchurch stadium into touch

My heart sank when I saw a headline saying the Christchurch City Council is going to consult residents before it puts any extra money into the new stadium, John MacDonald writes. Photo / Supplied

OPINION:

My heart sank last night.

It sank when I saw a headline saying the Christchurch City Council is going to consult residents before it puts any extra money into the new stadium - Te Kaha.

As we heard earlier this week, material costs have gone through the roof thanks to global supply chain issues and it's now looking like the council is going to have to come up with another $50 million to pay for the stadium.

The council has been at pains this week not to confirm that figure - saying that it won't know until it gets the final bid for the project from the lead contractor. I don't think I've heard it deny the figure though, just quietly.

But the council has obviously been spooked enough to let Treasury know about it. So I think it's safe to assume that we're not talking chickenfeed, and more money is going to have to come from somewhere if we are going to eventually get a new stadium in Christchurch.

Yesterday, the National Party's deputy leader and finance spokesperson Nicola Willis made it pretty clear she doesn't think more money should be coming from the Crown for the stadium. And we know that when the city council raised the idea of more money with the Government last year, it wasn't interested - and it certainly wouldn't appreciate being asked a second time.

So, the Christchurch City Council is on its own and needs to decide what it is going to do.

An artist's impression of the inside of the planned Canterbury Multi-Use Arena. Photo / Supplied

Now the reason my heart sank last night when I saw the headline about the council planning to consult residents before it puts more money into the stadium, was that I thought we were well and truly past the stage of consultation - even over significant matters like investing another $50 million into this significant project.

Think back to 2011 when the council ran its "Share an Idea" campaign. Remember that? Six weeks of sticky notes and writing ideas on big sheets of paper. It was exactly what Christchurch needed at the time.

Then we had all those other agencies pop-up and they were desperate to "consult" and "engage" as well and find out what we really wanted in our new city. Again, it was great - for a while.

But I remember things reaching a point and people saying "we are sick and tired of all your consultation. Just get on with stuff".

And that is exactly how I'm feeling about the prospect of the Christchurch City Council doing another round of consultation about the stadium.

It is 11 years since the big earthquake. You probably don't need to be reminded of that.

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But 11 years down the track, if the Council is so hellbent on consultation - there are other things it can consult us on, surely. A key project in the city's recovery from the 2011 earthquake isn't one of them.

Now I know I'm probably being somewhat hypocritical today, because I took the mayor to task last year when the Council decided in a single day to reduce the seating capacity at the stadium to keep it in budget. And not letting the public have some sort of say as to whether we'd be happy with a smaller facility.

But that was then and this is now - and I've moved on, and I just want them to get on with it.

Artists' impression of the planned Canterbury Multi-Use Arena. Photo / Supplied

In central government, they talk about voters giving parties a mandate and letting them get on with the job for three years. We don't always like the decisions they make - and we tell them about it when we don't - but that's how it works.

So why should it be any different with local government? We put the city councillors in the chairs for three years, and we put them there to make decisions. Just like central government.

And you know what will happen with this. The council will do its consultation and all the naysayers will come out in force and it'll be left with an outcome that says the majority of people who took part in the consultation process don't want more ratepayer money going into the stadium, so we'll have to build a smaller one.

Or, they'll have the same outcome and ignore it and then get voted out at the elections later this year.

I can't believe the council thinks it still needs to consult us on everything. Let alone a stadium that we all thought years ago was definitely a goer.

Make a decision. If it needs another $50 million, be bold, be brave, show that you genuinely back the future of our city, that you genuinely believe in its future. Put another $50 million into it if that's what's needed.

But - and here's the key bit - don't ask me for permission before you do it. Because I am sick and tired of all the consultation.