Early morning golfers in action on Chamberlain Park Golf Course in Mt Albert. Photograph by Jason Oxenham.
Early morning golfers in action on Chamberlain Park Golf Course in Mt Albert. Photograph by Jason Oxenham.
A pro-golf group has upped the ante in its attack on a council plan to half the size of a golf course in Western Springs.
In a letter to Auckland Council, chair of Save Chamberlain Park Geoff Senescall has accused the council as being "error-ridden and misleading" in its latestreport on the proposal.
"It is our view that the report does not provide a basis for lawful action by Council and should be withdrawn," he said.
The report, which was received at an Albert-Eden Local Board meeting this week, recommends the local board endorse the findings of an indicative business case for the redevelopment of Chamberlain Park.
It proposes reconfiguring the 18-hole golf course into a nine-hole golf course to make space for a neighbourhood park, walking and cycling connections and two-artificial sports fields.
Geoff Senescall, chairman of Save Chamberlain Park on the Chamberlain Park golf course in Western Springs, Auckland. Photograph by Michael Craig.
The Auckland Council report says an estimated population growth of 32.7 per cent by 2036 in the Albert-Eden area would lead to increased demand for new sport and recreation facilities.
And a reduction in rounds played at Chamberlain Park Golf Course from 82,000 in 2001 to 50,000 in 2017 meant the land required should come from the golf course.
However in his letter to the council, Senescall said the number of rounds played at Chamberlain Park in the last 12 months was back up to over 60,000.
Senescall said as the golf course was one of only two public golf courses, 80% of players come from out of the Albert-Eden area and are people who probably can't afford to join a private club.
"The board shouldn't be thinking about cutting it down so that people who can't afford to play golf elsewhere only get to play nine holes – it's unfair," he said.
The group has collected more than 17,000 signatures on their petition to retain the 18-hole course.
The redevelopment project is now estimated to cost $29.7 million, an amount which is causing controversy as the indicative business case has a benefit-to-cost ratio of 0.96 – meaning that it will only return $28 million in value to the local community, according to the report.
Aerial photograph - Chamberlain Park Golf Course, Auckland, near the Northwestern Motorway. Photograph by Brett Phibbs.
Board member Benjamin Lee said at this week's local board meeting there may be other ways to spend that money to achieve similar objectives.
"I would certainly look to see if there are alternative ways we can spend $29m on Albert-Eden to get more than $28m of benefits," he said.
But Albert-Eden Local Board Chairperson Peter Haynes said the $29m estimate assumed the Council would have to pay large amounts for the ground fill – which he believes is unlikely to be the case.
If the costs have been overestimated, then the indicative cost-benefit ratio is likely too low, he said.
According to a study undertaken for Auckland Council by an independent consultant, Albert-Eden Local Board has one of the biggest shortages of sports field capacity in Auckland.
Senescall said Albert-Eden's existing sports fields can accommodate the increased demand enabled by the Unitary Plan if all fields were upgraded to hybrid turf.
However Haynes said resurfacing is not an effective option.
"Our sports fields are mostly located on small parks close to neighbours or refuse tips where resurfacing is hugely expensive," he said.
"If it were as easy as the golfers incorrectly assume, we would have done it before now, but it is not."
Board member Rachel Langton told the meeting the current controversy could have been avoided if there had been more consultation with members of Chamberlain Park's golfing community.
Langton moved an amendment to instruct the board to meet with Save CP before proceeding with development any further, which was voted down.
Board member Jessica Rose, who voted against the amendment, said Save CP's perspective had already been heard.
"We've had quite a bit of information. It just feels like there will just be more similar conversations had and that won't be progressing any sort of change," she said.
Mark Thomas, a Communities and Residences candidate for Auckland Council, said the economic case for the development was weak, and there would be greater value in just gifting the citizens of Albert-Eden $29m.
Thomas said the board's decision to only 'receive' rather than 'endorse' the indicative business case suggested they were aware of issues.
"The City Vision members know there's a problem with the numbers because they refused to endorse the report," he said.
Haynes said with the Government planning to build 3,000 homes on the Unitec site alone, ignoring the needs of that increasing population would be short-changing the community's future.
Daniel Brunskill is an AUT journalism student on work experience with NZME.
