Councillor's appeal blocks city stadium

Wellington City Council's planned $46 million indoor sports stadium in Kilbirnie is being delayed for up to 18 months by one of its own councillors, who has appealed to the Environment Court.

Independent commissioners gave consent last month for the 12-court stadium at Cobham Park. Work was due to start in April, with the centre opening in September next year.

The appeal was filed by Andy Foster, the council's urban development and transport portfolio leader, who believes Cobham Park is the wrong site. "The appeal asks for a transparent public process to look at the alternative sites. I believe the council is trying to fly this under the radar."

He said the centre should be built in the central city, either on Harbour Quays land owned by CentrePort or on the concourse above Westpac Stadium. Both were discounted by the council.

"They didn't even put an offer to the port," Mr Foster said. "They didn't think they could get all 12 courts there. But they could have put eight there and seven at Hataitai [netball courts] for the same price."

A submission from Ian Maskell, an independent project and development consultant contracted by the council to investigate the concourse option, backed his claims, Mr Foster said.

The submission said: "The concourse remains a viable alternative to the Cobham Park option at the same cost but with clear and obvious benefits."

The council reviewed its decision last year to build on Cobham Park. Mr Maskell said the concourse option design team was not interviewed as part of that review and was at odds with its findings.

Mr Foster called it "a very quick and dirty peer review that only included council information".

Mayor Kerry Prendergast said the review heavily favoured Cobham Park. "[It] is unequivocally the best site. Construction cost is cheapest, it is significantly less complex because we own the land, no [land] negotiations are required, and it can be delivered two years earlier than the other sites."

With the concourse and Harbour Quays, the council would have to pay an extra $30 million to improve Jervois Quay and buy CentrePort land, valued at $15 million.