The Christchurch City Council has been forced to reconsider last week’s decision on the seating capacity, following new information.

A council report, previously hidden from the public, has revealed a 30,000 seat Christchurch stadium could cost $21.5 million less than what councillors were told.

Meanwhile, in a statement released today, Mayor Lianne Dalziel said a notice of motion has been received by the Chief Executive (co-authored by Councillors Sam MacDonald and James Gough) which seeks a revision of the Council decision on to proceed with a 25,000 seat arena.

An online petition calling on the council to reverse the decision will also be presented at next week’s council meeting.

It has reached more than 20,000 signatures.

The notice of motion will also ask council staff to work more with the Government to help with additional funds given the escalating costs as a result of the Covid19.

Councillor Sam MacDonald said “I am pleased the public can now see what we have been unable to discuss in detail since the Council discussion.”

“This will raise questions for the residents of Christchurch, this is a game-changer and will no doubt pressure Council to rethink its decision.”

MacDonald said “after being accused of “spreading misinformation” and “not being able to comprehend the information” the public will now be able to understand we were not misleading them, and in fact did understand it. We (including Gough, Chu, Keown, and Mauger) wanted the public to be able to see our side of the discussion, not just the $88million being used by other elected members. 

“What is important now is that the decision is revisited next week at the Council meeting to rectify this short-sighted decision.”

Christchurch Central City Business Association Chairwoman Annabel Turley said “the council needs to start getting things right because people are sick and tired of what’s happening.”

“Someone needs to go back to school and learn some maths. This council has one chance to leave a decent legacy behind, and it’s time for them to get it right.”

Councillor Sara Templeton said “I dispute the assertion that staff got it wrong.

“Staff made it clear to us during the meeting that there would be potential savings from the $88m and that it could go as low as under $70m, however, Council had made it clear many times that we did not want an over-budget option, so the additional calculations had not been made at that stage.”

She said “Council reaffirmed its commitment to the budget when we signed off the investment case, with only Cr Johanson voting against, and at no stage had councillors raised the potential to raise the budget during our many updates.”

Templeton said her decision on the number of seats was based on the recommendation of the arena experts and independent governance board “who were clear that 25000 is the right size for the CMUA.”

They were clear that 30,000 seats would give a lower experience level for attendees with most events feeling empty, that those seats would rarely be used and that the additional height of the arena would have an impact on turf health.

“While there may be additional savings found to bring the cost of the additional seats down to around $70m, it is still an untenable amount of money to be spent for such a small impact, especially given the challenges our city faces in the future due to climate change.”

Lianne Dalziel, who has refused to be interviewed on the stadium issues, said in a statement “this has to be the end of the matter as we need to get on and build the arena as soon as possible, without burdening our ratepayers with further cost escalations caused by delays.”

“If the Councillors had provided notice of their amendment to increase the seating capacity, staff would have had time to provide advice on the amendment prior to the 22 July meeting.”

“Our decision-making processes to date have all complied with the Local Government Act and have involved comprehensive briefings with Councillors prior to decision making meetings.”