Council mulls park prop-up

The city council is not ruling out putting more public money into the cash-strapped Christchurch Adventure Park.

The issue was discussed in secret during the public excluded part of the last Christchurch City Council meeting and is set to be discussed in private again at a meeting on Thursday.

The council already owns a 14.29 per cent stake in the park after investing $2 million in the project at the outset and is considering whether to increase that figure after the park announced in December it was seeking an additional $10m from existing investors.

The park said it needed the money to develop new attractions and repay debt in an attempt to become more sustainable.

Park chairman Paul Anderson said there had been ‘‘strong engagement’’ from investors, but no firm offers yet.

The $25m park has struggled with the effects of the Port Hills fire, low visitor numbers and bad spring weather. It wanted to encourage more Cantabrians to visit and was considering more beginner and family-friendly trails and facilities, new zip-line or tree-top experiences, or the introduction of sightseeing facilities at the top of the chair lift, among others.

Council-owned entity Development Christchurch presented a report to the council on February 14 outlining options available to it, but it is understood councillors requested more information before making a decision. It is not known what the options were.

Mayor Lianne Dalziel said it was an amazing facility and an asset for the city, but wanted to see more advice before deciding whether to contribute more ratepayer money.

‘‘Obviously we need advice to what the options are.’’

City councillors spoken to by The Press supported the facility, but had mixed views on committing ratepayers’ money to the private development.

Cashmere ward councillor Tim Scandrett said he supported putting more money into the park because it was important to the city as a tourist destination. ‘‘It’s been through the fires and we’ve got to support it back through. It sends an important tourism message to New Zealand.’’

However, Scandrett did not want to give the park more money and then leave them to it.

‘‘We’ve got to sit down with the [adventure park] board and ChristchurchNZ and look at how it’s marketed. It’s not a just a matter of putting more money in.’’

Scandrett said he did not want rates to increase further to pay for any additional investment and believed the money could be found by making savings in the council’s capital programme.

The council was proposing a

5 per cent rate increase for the

2019-20 year.

Cr Phil Clearwater said he supported the council increasing its investment in the park, but he too wanted it to be found within existing budgets. ‘‘It’s a major asset to our city and it’s got an incredible future. It’s a good long-

term investment. I think we can not allow such an important asset for the city to go under.’’

Cr Mike Davidson was not convinced the council should prop businesses up and the council needed to decide on the right outcome for ratepayers.

Cr Aaron Keown said he did not see the park as a ‘‘money pit’’. It was a strategic long-term investment for the city.

Cr Jamie Gough said he had yet to make a final decision, but his top consideration was that ratepayers got value for money.

‘‘The council has spent ratepayers’ money in far worse ways than supporting the adventure park.’’