The Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton Community Board has decided not to change the Reserves Act classification on the south-east part of Denton Park.

The Reserve Act change would have allowed Christchurch City Council to proceed with building a new library, customer service and recreation and sport centre there.

The Board did approve changes to the park’s Management Plan to reflect how Denton Park is currently used.

Denton Park was identified last year as the preferred location for the new Hornby facilities, but this decision means the Council will now collaborate with the Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton Community Board to take another look at the previous options and explore new possible locations.

“We won’t be starting from scratch because we already have a lot of information about other potential sites from the previous site selection process,’’ says Mary Richardson, the Council’s General Manager Citizens and Community.

The decisions taken by the Community Board today are in line with the recommendations of a Hearings Panel, which was formed to deliberate on the community’s feedback about the use of Denton Park.

The Hearings Panel considered more than 1400 submissions from the public.

Mike Mora, Chair of the Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton Community Board, says the main reason for not proceeding with Denton Park is the main issue highlighted by the hearings panel – namely the amount of traffic that a facility of this size would create in the local area.

“It’s been a long journey and the journey’s not over,’’ Mr Mora says. “The money for this facility is secured, and what we want to do now is work with the Council on a way forward. We’ve recommended to the Council that we start investigations into other possible sites immediately, beginning with geotechnical drilling at Kyle Park to see how feasible that is.”

In the recently adopted Long Term Plan, the Council set aside $35.7 million to build the facility, and money to continue investigation work is available.

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