Stadium passes the quake test

New Plymouth’s earthquakeprone Yarrow Stadium did not suffer damage in the a magnitude6.2 tremor that shook the North Island on Tuesday afternoon.

The quake struck only hours after stadium managers gathered for an update on the ground’s future, and revealed that whatever is decided they will have to borrow money.

It was damage during the Kaiko¯ ura earthquake in November 2016 that led to the closure of Yarrow’s two main stands.

The ground is owned by the Taranaki Stadium Trust (TST) and operated by the New Plymouth District Council (NPDC).

In an emailed statement, NPDC chief operating officer Kelvin Wright said the stadium had been inspected after the quake, which struck at 3.13pm and had its epicentre near Taumarunui. ‘‘The independent structural engineers said there was no sign of damage. We carry out inspections of key infrastructure after major quakes.’’

Meanwhile, TST trustee Mike Nield said getting the stadium back to normal would involve strengthening the stands rather than repairing damage. ‘‘If we had earthquake damage we would actually have something we could do an insurance claim on, and that’s the big problem we’ve got at the moment. We can’t access insurance because there’s no material damage to the stadium.’’

The Taranaki Regional Council was given an update on the stadium at their meeting on Tuesday, but the public were excluded to protect commercial confidentiality.

In a statement issued afterwards, the TRC said preliminary engineering reports made it clear that the stands could be fixed and this would cost a lot less than a total rebuild either at the current site or somewhere else.

Options including reinstating the stadium to its former state with modest improvements, or expanding its capacity, will be put out for public consultation early next year.

TRC chairman David MacLeod said people may be getting frustrated with what appeared to be inaction, but there was a process they had to follow and a lot was going on behind the scenes.

MacLeod said borrowing will be required to fund whatever option is chosen, but if the community wanted to go beyond just fixing the stadium, then conversations would need to start soon, as would discussions on alternative funding.

After decisions are made, progress towards implementation could begin in mid-2019.