Covid 19 coronavirus: Waipa's Mighty River Domain won't host events in December

Mighty River Domain will not host events in December because of the uncertainty around the Covid-19 traffic light framework and the lack of time to plan. Photo / Supplied

Another event location becomes a victim of the Covid-19 pandemic as Waipā District Council announced the Mighty River Domain will not host events in December due to uncertainty around the traffic light framework and the lack of time to plan.

Events scheduled in December were Te Puku O Te Ika Regional Sprint Championships 2021 planned to take place from December 11 to 12 and the Karapiro Rowing Christmas Regatta scheduled for December 16 to 19.

Mighty River Domain site manager and Waipā District Council deputy mayor Liz Stolwyk said the news would be disappointing for some event organisers, but not exactly unexpected.

''Unfortunately, we were still waiting for more detail about large scale outdoor events under the Government's new traffic light system, and without that clarity, we had to make the difficult call to hold off running events in December.''

According to the new Covid-19 framework that came into place last Friday, all indoor and outdoor events will have no capacity limits for attendees with vaccination certificates at green or orange, but while at red, the capacity limit is cut to 100.

If an event doesn't insist on vaccination certificates as a condition of entry while an area is in orange or red, they cannot operate at all.

Waipā District Council's property services manager Bruce Nunns said there is ambiguity around restrictions for events, particularly those events that have open access and are non-ticketed.

"There needs to be time to understand the new operational requirements in order to plan how to operate events under the traffic light framework. While it's disappointing, council needs to act cautiously before committing to the extended costs of running these events."

To find out all guidelines in place for running events at the different alert levels, click here.

For more information about what events are on in Waipā click here.