Court rules Dunedin stadium can go ahead

Construction can start on Dunedin's $200 million stadium after a group opposed to the project failed in their legal bid to stop it.

In the High Court at Christchurch today, Justice Lester Chisholm dismissed the application for a judicial review brought by the Stop the Stadium group, the Christchurch Court News website reported.

The group filed the action a week ago to stop Dunedin City Council signing off on the contract, even after it passed a motion to go ahead with the construction at a meeting on Monday.

The contract has been approved by the council subject to the outcome of the legal action, for which submissions were heard yesterday.

The Stop the Stadium group maintained the council's stadium proposal had changed significantly since it went through the consultation process and the provisions of the Local Government Act meant the consultation had to be repeated.

But Justice Chisholm said today that an increase of $10 million in the cost of the project and the reduction of $3 million in the Community Trust contribution did not amount to significant change so that further consultation was not required.

He also did not accept the group's allegations of revenue changes affecting the project.

The council said there had been no change in revenue terms. It said that throughout the planning process, there had been a figure of $66 in rating impact for the average Dunedin section.

The council also reported it now had the benefit of more favourable interest rates for the project.

Justice Chisolm dismissed the Stop the Stadium application and reserved the question of costs.

He said he was aware that any delay on the project would jeopardise the chances of the stadium being open in time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

- NZPA