No Plan B for Sir Ray Avery's Waitangi Day concert at Eden Park

Sir Ray Avery says there is no plan b for his Waitangi Day Lifepod Appeal concert at Eden Park should the park's trust decide getting consent will be too costly. Photo / Greg Bowker

There is no plan B for the Waitangi Day LifePod Appeal concert at Eden Park should the park's trust decide the bid for a resource consent will be too costly, Sir Ray Avery says.

A meeting has been called between trustees of The Eden Park Trust after its lawyers advised the consent process for the concert is likely to stretch beyond October and cost in excess of $750,000, not including legal costs.

A final decision on the concert's fate is likely on Thursday.

"We don't' have plan B, we have always made that clear," Avery said.

"With the relationships we have had with the telethon, sponsors and Eden Park, we couldn't pick it up and take it somewhere else."

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Former Prime Minister Helen Clark, a vocal opponent of the concert, told the Herald today that the idea was a poorly conceived initiative from the outset.

"Given that it sought to do something which has not previously been permitted in this densely settled residential neighbourhood – indeed previous such applications have been declined, the promoters of it should always have been aware that it would run into major planning issues."

Those who had submitted against the event were exercising their legitimate rights under the Resource Management Act because of the "obvious extreme noise to which they would have been exposed".

Avery said the root cause of these problems was the Resource Management Act.

The park, New Zealand's biggest stadium with capacity for 60,000 spectators, has consent under the Auckland unitary plan for up to 25 night-time sports events a year.

Former Prime Minister Helen Clark said the idea for the concert was a poorly conceived intiative from the start. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The plan also allows for up to six night-time concerts a year, but requires the trust to apply for an individual resource consent for each concert. No consent for a concert has ever been granted.

"It is stopping it (Eden Park) from making a profit, it's morally wrong for the stakeholders - us."

"It's costing taxpayers $3 million a year in lost revenue, its eating its head off."

Avery rejected Clark's claims that the concert was a Trojan horse that would lead to more concerts. It was "more of a nappy fest".

Neither Eden Park Trust chief executive Nick Sautner or the trust had approached Avery to hold a concert at the park as some had speculated, Avery said.

He had asked Sautner to help him.

"We bonded over parenthood. We both knew what it was like to have kids. It's the best life is going to get when you see that person."

"I couldn't get him drunk so I connected with him as a father."

He pitched the idea to Sautner and convinced him to pitch it to the board.

"I said why don't we do something really cool and he took the leap of faith.

"I pitched it to him because maybe I was stupid. I feel guilty, I said to them I think this could work."

Avery said he felt some guilt because Sautner would not have been thrust into the spotlight had it not been for him.

Despite some criticism, three-quarters of submissions to the resource consent process support the LifePod Appeal concert, as do 91 per cent of Aucklanders and 87 per cent of people living nearby, according to the Trust.

"We had a fantastic fish n' chips night on Friday with more than 150 of our neighbours and their children where similar strong support for the LifePod Appeal concert was expressed," Sautner said this week.

However he said the Trust was now in a "difficult position".

"Because the process we have to go through for just one concert is the same as a property investor might have to go through for a major development, such as the recent Matiatia Bay marina case."