Pressure on ARC grows to help pay for open space

Calls are growing for the Auckland Regional Council to provide money for the Tank Farm development on the Auckland waterfront towards the rising costs of more open space.

Heart of the City business group and Auckland City councillor Doug Armstrong yesterday said it was a nonsense for Auckland City ratepayers to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for a park on the headland jutting out in Waitemata Harbour when the land is publicly owned.

The Herald has revealed that secret negotiations to create more open space at the Tank Farm are set to cost the public about $300 million on top of the $350 million already set aside to create parks, transport and other infrastructure.

In a public money-go-round, the $300 million would be paid by the Auckland City Council to buy into a 50:50 joint venture with Ports of Auckland, which would pass it on to the Auckland Regional Council for spending on public transport.

The ARC controls 20ha of the 35ha Tank Farm area, including the prime 8ha of headland, through its 100 per cent ownership of Ports of Auckland.

Heart of the City chief executive Alex Swney said the ARC needed to exercise control over the ports company for the benefit of ratepayers, and Mr Armstrong said the regional council should share the cost of the "public good" elements at the Tank Farm development.

"I'm happy with the way the plan is developing but I'm not happy necessarily with the relative contributions [between Auckland City and the ARC] in a public-good sense," said Mr Armstrong.

ARC chairman Mike Lee has said a park on the headland was of "regional significance" but has not said whether the ARC, with responsibility for regional parks, would pay for it.

Mr Lee yesterday said the current plans had a significant amount of public space, as demanded by the public, but the allocation of costs for the open space would be decided through negotiations between the parties.

Asked if the ARC would contribute financially towards the public-good elements of the waterfront development, Mr Lee said: "That will be subject to negotiations. All the parties will be making a contribution one way or another."

In a joint statement from Auckland City, the ARC, its investment arm Auckland Regional Holdings and Ports of Auckland, the parties said they were making good progress and working positively together towards a world-class development at the Tank Farm.

ARC councillor David Hay called the statement a "stretch of the truth", saying ARC councillors themselves were being kept in the dark.