Five Christchurch City Councillors are calling on Mayor Lianne Dalziel to release to the public the cost breakdown of the options considered for the Multi Use Arena.

It following the Mayor’s comments on TV news last night saying “It was a lot of money for a one night stand.”

The mayor was referring to an additional 88 million dollars required to add another 5000 seats to bring the stadium capacity to 30,000.

Councillor Sam MacDonald said “it is very easy for the Mayor to say there is an extra $88 million of costs, but this is shrouded in secrecy and Council public excluded process.”

Councillor James Gough said “with the Central City Business Association survey showing 91.6% of people don’t agree with reducing the stadium size, it demonstrates why public confidence in the council’s decision-making is at an all-time low.”

“The Mayor needs to put the cost breakdowns provided to Councillors into the public domain, on all options, so the public can judge for themselves if it is in fact an $88 million difference – I dispute this figure. If the Mayor is confident in her numbers she shouldn’t mind standing by them in front of the public.” MacDonald said.

James Gough said “the other key consideration that the public, and councillors for that matter, need to see is a detailed economic impact analysis that results from the 5000 seat reduction.”

The Councillors are calling on Attachment A, Page 8 of the Public Excluded Council Agenda on the 22nd of July 2021 to be released immediately in addition to the Economic Analysis. 

The Five Councillors are MacDonald, Gough, Aaron Keown, Phil Mauger and Catherine Chu. 

An online petition calling on the council to reverse the decision has reached more than 20,000 signatures.

The Christchurch City Council responded to criticism on its website.

You can read it here.