Wanganui District Council has dismissed as baseless rumours it plans to open up Otamatea Reserve for subdivision.
The reserve lies between Great North Rd and Virginia Rd on St John's Hill but the council has been quick to dispel rumours that its classification is going to be changed.
The green space is in one of the city's prime residential suburbs and an area where pressure is on to provide more subdividable land.
But yesterday the council's deputy property manager Leighton Toy said there were no plans to change the reserve's status.
Mr Toy said the reserve was not included in the list of properties the council's chief executive had delegated authority to sell.
But he said a subdivision and partial sale of a small part of Otamatea Reserve was under consideration but had still to be put before the council for consideration "and no decisions have been made about it".
However, that does not mean a potential carve-up of the prime reserve is off the cards altogether.
Mr Toy said in the coming months the council's property group would provide the council with a revised list of properties that have the chief executive's delegated authority to sell or are under consideration for sale.
The most active and regular user of the green space is Wanganui Dog Training Club, which leases of part of the old school building on the property. The rent on that building is reviewed every three years and is currently set at $200 a year. Mr Toy said it had been reviewed within the past two months.
The council had drafted a parks and open spaces strategy in 2007. It was developed to cover a period of 20 years (to 2027).
Otamatea Reserve is classified as a "passive reserve" and, like similar green spaces around the city, exists primarily for informal recreation and play in that particular area.