Local Board has no clear mandate to redevelop Chamberlain Park golf course

The Albert Eden Local Board (AELB) has no clear public mandate to needlessly carve up Chamberlain Park golf course some 75 years after the asset was bestowed on Aucklanders by our forefathers.

Not only could this act cost ratepayers and taxpayers millions of dollars, it will potentially destroy what is a well-used resource - with approximately 50,000 games of golf in total played at Chamberlain Park a year it is one of the busiest golf courses in the country. It is enjoyed by people of Maori, Pasifika and Asian ethnicities as well as all age groups.

The decision to issue a public statement follows the move by the AELB to fast-track the redevelopment of Chamberlain Park Golf Course – providing no option for retaining the course as it is. The AELB is now seeking Auckland Council funding for its plans in spite of not having tabled any potential costings for its four redevelopment options.

Chamberlain Park Golf Club committee member Richard Quince, speaking on behalf of players and members, stated: “Chamberlain Park serves a very important need for casual golfers who play over 85% of the rounds played on the course. There is a very real risk that the proposed developments will reduce participation in golf and lower the level of activity of Aucklanders.”
Quince noted that comments by Jim Anderton captured the historic value of Chamberlain Park: “It was built during the Great Depression of the 1930s…. It was then on the very edge of the urban belt, surrounded by town supply dairy farms……..Generations of Aucklanders have learned to play and enjoy a great and enduring sport.”
Today Chamberlain Park provides for Aucklanders who want to play golf the opportunity to play at a low cost, easy access public venue that has none of the stuffy protocols that sometimes are attached to golf clubs. Golf is a game that can and is played by families. It is particularly popular among those who can no longer play the more physically demanding sports such as rugby and football who are generally in an older age-group and have as much right to recreation as other people.

Quince said that the AELB consultation process had been poorly executed.In spite of this the findings were still in favour of retaining Chamberlain Park as an 18 hole golf course once the option, vigorously championed by the AELB chairman Peter Haynes, to use a portion of the golf course for a Chinese Garden was resolved by the decision to site the garden outside the golf course area. The AELB now have put up an option for an aquatic centre - this belies the fact that there is one only 2 kilometres away, which is currently being refurbished by AELB to extend its life by up to 10 years. Quince also noted that one of the initial options had also been for property development but this was resoundingly opposed in the survey undertaken.

Quince says: "What is most disappointing is that we have engaged with the AELB and its consultants in good faith and have asked that the status quo is retained as a consultation option, but they have apparently not listened, given comments by AELB member Graeme Easte who last week publicly said "We are going to redevelop Chamberlain Park."
Moreover, with no clear public mandate AELB have put up four options, each of which is flawed. None of the golf course options can be considered as a true test of golf because of the high prevalence of par 3 holes and this will reduce the attraction of the course to its many regular users.
All options create significant health and safety issues - narrowing the course will involve the removal of trees which protect players from golf ball strike. All options also have bike and walkways through them which will need to be fully covered.

The removal of trees which will be required will also be an environmental negative as their oxygen-producing capabilities will be lost.
The barbeque/picnic area is proposed for the wettest part of the course and has no car parking. The sports field options have parking and access issues not to mention that significant cost will be involved in levelling the area due to the height variation in the course and the depth of underlying basalt. Having a driving range would be great but it also requires site levelling.

Auckland Golf has been strongly supportive of our endeavours to keep the developers away from Chamberlain Park. NZ Golf also wants as much of the golfing footprint kept as possible.”

AELB currently has 2.8 hectares of open space per 1,000 residents, close to the widely-accepted international guideline of 2.83 hectares per 1,000 residents, and has on its boundaries large open spaces such as Cornwall Park/One Tree Hill Domain, Meola Reserve and Western Springs. Within a short distance are other open spaces including Auckland Domain, Mt Hobson Domain and Three Kings Reserve.
Mr Quince rejects the contention that Chamberlain Park should be carved up and used for other recreational activities and also the contention that it only used by one group of people. The park is enjoyed and widely used by a broad cross section of people – age, gender and race. It is part of a green belt that stretches all the way to the Waitemata and an inner city resource that is enjoyed by people from all parts of Auckland.

ENDS

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