East lake dispute surges ahead

Conflict continues over the exclusion of a sports lake from the Christchurch river red zone, despite the agency that made the decision to release reports revealing how the decision was made.

The East Lake Trust (ELT) has set up an online petition, which had more than 9300 signatures on Sunday, for a lake to be included in the 602-hectare red zone. The trust hopes to talk to decisionmakers about the disputed points which led to the lake’s rejection. The flatwater lake was ruled out by Crown-Christchurch City Council planning agency Regenerate Christchurch in April. It was dropped for a variety of environmental reasons, all of which were disputed by the ELT. The issue turned sour at a meeting in early May, with both sides claiming the other had been misleading.

Regenerate publicly released the reports and supporting documents behind the decision in late May, at the launch of its public exhibition showing shortlisted options for the 602-hectare space. The plans featured a green spine and three zones set aside for food and culture, exploring nature and activities and play.

Some of the argument hinges on whether or not an out-of-river lake would mean the area around Horseshoe Lake could not be used as wetlands for stormwater treatment. Regenerate says the lake would use up too much space for effective stormwater treatment, while the trust believes both could be accommodated.

ELT chair David Goodman said the trust now knew the reasons the lake was rejected, but in their view they did not stack up.

‘‘We are not going to drop it until we get some answers.’’

Trustee Steve Wakefield said the ELT had requested a meeting with Regenerate chairwoman Sue Sheldon to try to explain the lake and the wetlands were not mutually exclusive. The trust was also talking with councillors, MPs and other city leaders.

The trust agreed the water quality in Horseshoe Lake needed to be improved, but believed the ELT had provided for that in its proposal, Wakefield said.

Wakefield said the ELT had received ‘‘tremendous support from the people on the east’’.

Regenerate chief executive Ivan Iafeta said Regenerate’s technical analysis had found the lake was technically feasible, would bring some economic benefits to Christchurch, and had a level of public support, but Regenerate had determined the ‘‘overall best combinations of land uses’’ for the red zone did not include a flatwater lake.

Iafeta said as more people went onto the Regenerate website and read the material which informed the selection of shortlisted land uses, ‘‘greater appreciation of the reasons behind our decision is being expressed in online conversations’’.

He said Regenerate had met with the ELT on many occasions and have offered to meet with them again.