No word on quake work as stadium committee meets

A day after it was revealed that Taranaki’s main rugby stadium is in need of earthquake strengthening work, the council committee running the venue held its regular meeting - but did not discuss the matter in public.

On Tuesday the New Plymouth District Council announced that the 15-year-old TSB Stand at Yarrow Stadium will close for earthquake strengthening.

Yesterday the Yarrow Stadium Joint Committee, made up of Taranaki Regional Councillors Michael Joyce and Craig Williamson, and New Plymouth District mayor Neil Holdom and councillor Alan Melody, met in New Plymouth.

One item on the agenda was the draft asset management plan, which includes $11.5 million stadium improvements to be carried out over the next 10 years.

The draft plan does not take into account any strengthening work, so may have to change.

The strengthening issue was not discussed during the public part of the meeting, which continued behind closed doors after the media was asked to leave.

The TSB Stand, which also houses Taranaki Rugby’s headquarters and a catering company, is being vacated while further work to assess the situation is carried out.

It is not known whether this will stop the Chiefs from playing a Super Rugby game in New Plymouth next year.

Yesterday a spokeswoman for the Chiefs said they were aware of the challenges with the TSB Stand at Yarrow Stadium and were currently in discussions with the NPDC.

And a council spokesman said they needed more time before they could answer questions around why a relatively new stand was already needing strengthening and whether the stadium’s other stand, built at the same time, was also affected.

By Helen Harvey