Districts not planning on stadium spend
Christchurch’s neighbouring councils don’t plan to pay for a stadium in the city, despite at least one mayor earlier supporting the idea.
The Government and Christchurch City Council are working on a business case for the stadium, which is hoped to be largely completed by the end of the year.
Although the city council has confirmed it plans to invest $253 million in the project, Government funding is yet to be signed off and Environment Canterbury (ECan) was not asked to include a regional rate for the stadium in its longterm plan.
The Otago Regional Council put $37.5 million towards Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium, an investment that has since paid off. Venue managers last year said the stadium’s economic benefit exceeded the Dunedin City Council’s contribution within six years of it opening.
Selwyn mayor Sam Broughton told the Christchurch City Council in May that he supported the idea of rural Canterbury ratepayers contributing to Christchurch’s new stadium. He said the city council would need to lead any discussion about how that might happen though.
Regional ratepayer support for the stadium was not universally backed by other district mayors. Hurunui’s Winton Dalley said his the district’s ratepayers were already stretched, while Waimakariri mayor David Ayers said his community would need to be consulted first.
Broughton said this week that financial support from district councils was no longer necessary since the city council had confirmed it would spend $253m and another $220m had been promised from the Government’s Christchurch Regeneration Acceleration Fund.
Christchurch mayor and Canterbury Mayoral Forum chairwoman Lianne Dalziel said a report to the forum on the stadium business case and funding options was due next year, and nothing was a foregone conclusion at this stage.
The city council was waiting for the Government to confirm its proposal to spend $220m of the Christchurch Regeneration Acceleration Fund on the stadium.
It was not yet possible to discuss further funding, including whether private investment was a possibility, she said.
ECan chairman Steve Lowndes said the regional council did not receive a formal request to include a regional rate for the stadium in its 2018-28 longterm plan, so the idea was not considered.
There were several ways amenities like stadiums could be funded regionally, and solutions used in other regions had ranged from a targeted regional rate to a lump sum contribution, he said.