Editorial: Eden Park challenge well worth taking on

Opinion

Sometimes it takes a deadline to get something worthwhile done. On Friday, the Eden Park Trust Board will unveil its plans to upgrade the park that will be at the centre of the 2011 Rugby World Cup in five seasons' time.

The plans are ambitious: to turn the mish-mash of styles and stands at Eden Park into an integrated national ground worthy of the big games of the Cup. But to create a top arena for 2011 will require a series of compromises from a range of parties - residents, the cricket authorities, the Eden Park Trust Board itself and all the local bodies around Auckland - if the park is to shine for the estimated 60,000 overseas visitors likely to spend $400 million here, or the 3 billion TV viewers.

There is no doubt it will need to be a far, far better ground than it is today if the NZRFU's predictions for 2011 are correct. Despite all the redevelopment of the past 10 years, Eden Park remains an arena with problems. Surrounding suburbs grind to a halt as spectators struggle to get there and away. Buses and taxis block the small residential streets around the park, or at least are forced to navigate their way through crowds.

From outside, the ground looks marvellous in parts (the ASB stand) and like an ageing Lego set in others (the eastern terraces).

Inside, there are the seats that spectators seek and those they shun (the Panasonic). The concrete tunnel underneath the south stand is like a throwback to the 1950s.

Eden Park Trust Board realises there is much to do. It is understood to want to extend the ASB stand to replace the forlorn Panasonic, as well as build a new, higher stand stretching around the terraces and incorporating the south stand, giving the necessary extra 13,000 seats to reach the 60,000 it promised in its Cup bid.

Its plans are also said to include an underground carpark and a transport hub at the back of the west stand, for buses, which would hugely reduce the size of the next-door Eden Park Number 2.

But to achieve its vision, the trust board and all the interested parties will have to compromise. The board must listen to the legitimate fears of the residents because, for better or for worse, this is an inner-city stadium built among homes. Residents, though, will need to weigh the advantages that the new plans will offer: less light, less noise from the games, a better transport plan to get buses into the games and away faster.

The biggest compromise may well have to come from the cricket authorities, who may well lose the pleasant, leafy Number 2 ground for provincial cricket. But the reality is that the crowds that turn out to see the Auckland Aces, even on a good day, are tiny. Cricket authorities would lose Number 2 to buses, in exchange for more seats inside for the big-draw, profitable international one-dayers.

Auckland City, too, may have to compromise. Pitching in $60 million to help pay for a world-class venue is big money but a good investment in the future. The other Auckland local bodies, too, could compromise. Eden Park is a regional asset, attended by spectators from around the city. It's not asking too much that ratepayers in the wider region get involved since the region will benefit from the spin-offs of the Cup.

Auckland has already gained from the planning for the America's Cup 1999 and 2003 that turned the Viaduct from a wind-swept commercial area into an entertainment hub. Now the challenge is to rise to an even greater occasion.