New Eden Park stand a shade over the top

An artist's impression of what the proposed Eden Park stadium will look like from the Reimers Ave and Cricket Ave corner.

Residents living near Eden Park have discovered that the proposed $320 million development for the 2011 Rugby World Cup will be taller and cast much more shade than they expected.

The new stand will be nearly the height of the current light towers, and more than 200 houses might be affected by shading, Eden Park Neighbours Association chairman Mark Donnelly said yesterday.

"The development will dominate an area with important heritage value," he said.

After looking at the resource consent application for the Eden Park facelift, Mr Donnelly, a former Auckland City councillor, said houses in eight streets would be affected by shade. The sun would disappear from summer barbecues up to an hour earlier for many residents.

Residents plan to lodge their concerns at a resource consent hearing this year, but are unlikely to delay the project.

Rugby World Cup Minister Trevor Mallard said in June that if the resource consent progress threatened to stall the 2011 event, the Government would use its power to speed it up.

"I have a good understanding of the call-in provisions [under the Resource Management Act] and ways of moving quickly through a process if it is necessary," Mr Mallard said.

Mr Donnelly said residents had thought about 50 houses would be affected by shade, but it was closer to 200. This was because the Eden Park Trust Board had permission to build a 30m structure but had counted only houses that would be affected by development beyond 30m.

The maximum height of the new structure in the resource consent application was 44m - "greater than first described", Mr Donnelly said.

At a public meeting on July 1, the board was asked how high the new stands would be. Minutes show the answer was "40m height from pitch, 36m from Reimers Ave". The resource consent application said "maximum height 44 metres above playing field level".

Eden Park Residents Association chairman Jose Fowler, whose organisation was set up last December when New Zealand secured the 2011 Rugby World Cup, said the trust board was being a "bit misleading" by saying that only 40 or so houses would have shading problems.

"The trust should be a little bit more up front and honest about how many properties are being affected by the stadium with reference to shading," Mr Fowler said.

Trust board chief executive John Alexander said there were shading issues, but they were not major and the board was working with residents on a mitigation package.

Mr Alexander said the number of affected properties was nowhere near 200.

Mr Donnelly said people did not realise Eden Park seating capacity could be increased from 47,500 to 60,000 for the Rugby World Cup by using a temporary stand.


What happens next

* September 8: Public submissions close.
* Late 2006: Resource consent hearing.
* October/November: Work starts with demolition of old Panasonic Stand.
* 2010: Upgrade completed.