Nelson fans could miss premier rugby

Nelson rugby fans might miss out on watching their team play a home match if Nelson-Marlborough makes it into the new premier division next year.

Trafalgar Park requires a $2.7 million upgrade to meet the New Zealand Rugby Union's (NBRU) minimum requirements for premier division games and the Nelson Bays Rugby Union had been planning to seek resource consent as soon as possible so the park could be available for games next year.

But NBRU chairman Max Spence said the organisation had now decided to wait and find out whether it had been accepted into the premier competition before applying for consent.

"We want to make sure we're not ticking things off ahead of ourselves."

If the upgrade cannot be completed on time, Blenheim's Lansdowne Park would reap the economic benefits of up to 10 provincial, Super 14, and even tour games that might be allocated to Nelson-Marlborough.

Spence said the NZRU was due to announce next month whether Nelson-Marlborough was successful in its bid.

He agreed that waiting until the decision came out would make it "tough" to gain the necessary consents and have Trafalgar Park ready by March next year as required for games to be scheduled there.

Meeting that deadline was not essential to the bid.

Sponsors had made it clear they wanted games held in Nelson, but Spence did not anticipate a year's delay being a problem.

"They're still getting all the television coverage and national media coverage (at Lansdowne Park)."

Trafalgar Park needs to have a minimum of 5000 seats, 2000 of which must be covered, brighter lights, and better broadcasting facilities and coaches' boxes to meet the criteria.

Most of the necessary consents are expected to be easily approved, except the one relating to lighting.

This would need to be publicly notified, meaning the public would be invited to make submissions on it and it could take up to six months to get a decision, Spence said.

That would leave four months before the March deadline for construction to take place but Spence said it was also important that the needs of other park users were not disrupted by any works.

The process could be stalled indefinitely if someone appealed a favourable resource consent decision to the Environment Court, creating an untenable situation for the union's sponsors.

Spence said he knew an appeal was possible, but hoped neighbours would realise the lights would not have a big effect on them.

The union had considered applying for consent earlier and withdrawing the application if its bid was unsuccessful, but did not have enough specifics to lodge an application, he said.

Mr Spence was unsure if day games were a possibility for Nelson if lighting was the only requirement not met.

A council report has estimated up to $1.2 million would be injected into the economy as a result of each provincial premier game.

- NZPA