Switch helps speedway promoter

Auckland City Council has changed its contract with the promoter of Western Springs Speedway in a bid to persuade the courts to allow racing to continue.

The council said yesterday it had changed a clause that required Springs Promotions to comply with the 85-decibel noise limit set out in the city's concept and district plans.

The clause was changed to say the promoter must now comply with the Resource Management Act.

The change may allow Springs Promotions to argue in an Environment Court hearing scheduled for February 1 that it has an existing-use right to exceed 85 decibels.

The council, which will have representatives at the hearing, said yesterday that it changed the contract for this reason.

Deputy Mayor Bruce Hucker said the council had begun an extensive archive search to see what noise limits historically applied, to help the promoter's case in court.

The search had found that contracts with Western Springs speedway promoters in the 1980s allowed them to operate at 90 to 95 decibels.

Mayor Dick Hubbard, who has staunchly supported the speedway in the face of opposition from residents fed up with the noise, said the council was pulling out all stops to ensure racing continued at the stadium.

"No one should mistake the city's clear intention to make sure the speedway stays where it belongs - at the Springs," he said.

"We have a unanimous council resolution to explore every option to make sure that happens. That's what we are doing."

The council would also proceed with work to reduce noise for residents near the stadium. "But, by whatever way, we will have speedway at the Springs long-term."

The Springs Stadium Residents Association, which is opposed to the noise, last year won an Environment Court case forcing the speedway to comply with the 85-decibel limit.

But the speedway has been unable to keep to the limit, forcing the promoter to halt or cancel racing several times since the season began in November.

The residents said the council had been threatening since Christmas to change its contract with the speedway promoter.

Spokesman Joe Caccioppoli said it was appalling that the council had gone ahead and done it.

"It will mean the community will lose its right forever to protest against noise levels at Western Springs."

Mr Caccioppoli said the council was effectively asking the Environment Court to break its own rules.

"It's trying to actually get the court to agree that the council and the promoters that are contracted to it don't have to keep the rules of its own district plan."

He believed community members who were happy for racing to be held within the 85-decibel limit would be outraged when they learned what had happened.