July 2, 2025 • 15 mins
Over the last decade, as New Zealand has grappled with a housing crisis, golf courses have become a lightning rod for controversy.
Auckland Council alone owns or manages 13 golf courses across the Super City, and many campaigners have targeted these sites as being prime land for housing.
Though, as with any major project, there are plenty of loud voices on the other side of the debate.
The recent controversy to hit the green has nothing to do with housing, but instead wetlands, flooding, and the Takapuna Golf Course.
Ahead of the delivery of review findings next week on this case, today on The Front Page we’re unpacking the contentious nature of golf courses in Auckland, firstly with contributing writer for The Spinoff, Hayden Donnell. Then, later, to talk us through the golf course and Auckland Council’s views, we’re joined by NZ Herald reporter, Benjamin Plummer.
Follow The Front Page on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.
Host: Chelsea Daniels
Sound Engineer/Producer: Richard Martin
Producer: Ethan Sills
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Kyoda. I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page,
a daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald. Over
the last decade, as New Zealand has grappled with the
housing crisis, golf courses have become a lightning rod for controversy.
(00:25):
Auckland Council alone owns or managers thirteen golf courses across
the supercity, and many campaigners have targeted these sites as
being prime land for housing, though as with any major project,
there are plenty of loud voices on the other side
of the debate. The recent controversy to hit the Green
(00:45):
has nothing to do with housing though, but instead with wetlands,
flooding and the Takapuna golf Course. Ahead of the delivery
of review findings next week, on this case today on
the Front Page, we're unpacking the contentious nature of golf
courses in Auckland, firstly with contributing writer for the spin
off Hayden Dennell. So, Hayden tell me about what's going
(01:12):
on with the Takapoona golf course.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
The basic of it is that this all started on
the Auckland Anniversary Weekends flood when the whole White oh Valley. Basically,
when underwater, two people died, Homes, businesses were destroyed. In
the after mass is that the council had to look
for ways to make sure it wouldn't happen again. And
so they were basically looking for council owned land that
(01:40):
could draw a whole heap of water as flooding ever
took place. And they found that the only big enough
and appropriate section of land that they own is a
copoon of golf course. And so they're proposing to turn
a lot of it into a wetland so that blood's
ever happened and that will store all the water. But
that would mean at least reducing the golf course to
(02:02):
nine holes. That has proved You would never guess this,
but it has proved controversial.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Is the golfers aren't happy. Have they proposed anything else?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
In the meantime, the golfers have got their own proposal.
I'm going to be looking at it a bit deeper
later this week, but they want to They say that
they're going to keep eighteen holes. They say that they
can keep ating holes and still provide enough drainage for
any future floods. I think it's five hundred million liters
of wader or something that needs to be stored to
(02:33):
prevent a repeat of the Upen Anniversary weekend floods. Now,
I think there's being assessed right now by council officials
and there are some doubts about whether that is feasible
or not. And as I understand it as well, there
are other people that have interest in the course and
taking on the lease and maybe working a little bit
closer with the council as well.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Why is it so difficult to get rid of or
to simply amend a golf course.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
It's emotional. I'm not a golfer, so I don't have
the I can't relate to it on a deep emotional
personal level. But I think there's so many people that
a lot of their social life is tied up there,
a lot of their enjoyment takes place in this course,
and the idea of doing away with it that really
(03:20):
offends them on a personal level. There's also I mean,
there's a lot of money, let's say, that's tied up
in a lot of golf courses, and there's a lot
of resources for people that are passionate about the sports
to access and so it's often hard to dislodge the
courses because you'll get a backlash from some of the
more wealthy and well connected members of society who enjoy
(03:42):
using that course. And I mean there's a whole heap
of reasons.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Are you surprised to see so much backlash towards this proposal?
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Absolutely not. I mean you just remember a few years ago,
twenty nineteen, I think it was that Chamberlaine Park golf
course and Mount Albert. The local board they're proposed to
remove half of it and make it nine holes and
give some they definitely needed some sports facilities, community sports facilities,
and that caused a massive backclash. The board was voted out,
(04:12):
the proposal was put on hold or supported. Now so,
I'm absolutely not surprised. It seems like this happens whenever
a golf course is in any way threatened with some
sort of different use remu edit golf course another one
where where Bill Golf is talking about potentially using it
for a different purpose than the local board. The Orducky
(04:32):
local Board extended its least betweenty ninety one, I think.
So this seems to happen just about every time, And
just for context, the council owns. I think thirteen golf
courses an autant and there is something like forty three overall,
so it's not a city that is short of golf courses,
but it's still it proves incredibly difficult to get rid
of any of them.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
If the golf courses plan for eighteen holes and the
wetland proposal that they're proposed works, it covers the same
money and covers the same amount of space, then it
was it would stay a golf course, but they would
be up to the local board. If the council one
was the only one that was possible, be up to
the local board what to do in that remaining space,
(05:17):
So it could be mine, whole golf course and driving range,
it could be whatever the local board.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Went out with.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
I did love the bit in your article about the
woman complaining about duck poo.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, I thought, I mean this is I thought this
was one of the most furious arguments again redeveloping the
golf course. That was a local woman who says that
she likes to use the course to walk her dog.
And if there's a wet land, there'll be heaps of
ducks here, and the ducks or crapp everywhere, and then
the dog it seems will be mainlining the duck poo
(05:52):
and the story that was the story from staff and
it had a picture of the dog looking very forlornly
into the middle distance, which I think was probably the
dog contemplating it set to eating duck footh.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
I love how it was just like the title of
the image, just look looking towards its future of duck
oo meals it.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Didn't look happy about it. Now I know this is
this is one of the more low costs golf courses.
And Chamberlain part was the same where it's not just
the toity toity rich members of society. He use it.
And so there's an argument from like an an equity
perspective to keep as much of this golf course as possible.
(06:32):
But you just couldn't take a better argument. For you,
if you're going to try to do away with some
of the golf course and maybe keep nine holes, then
literally people died and we need a place to store
water so that that will never happen again, and homes
and businesses were destroyed. And if even there's going to
be a time that a golf course actually goes then
(06:52):
it's probably this time, but I still give it up.
I think my last pods was given them a twenty
five to the council twenty five percent jump. I sort
of offer it between that.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I saw a figure on Golf New Zealand's website that
last year golf club membership sat at about one hundred
and forty two thousand, eight hundred and eighty registrations nationwide.
New Zealand has more than four hundred golf courses, which
is apparently the second in the world per capita, behind Scotland.
Why do we need all of them?
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Well, I would argue, and I have argued in the past,
that we don't and I have really no problem with
having a heap of golf courses. People enjoy them used.
But when when they're on public land in places that
could be used for any manner of community facilities or
even housing to address the housing crisis, that's sort of
(07:46):
where it starts getting a bit techier. In this case,
it's where it's needed to prevent flooding that could damage
lives of businesses or homes. Takapuna is one of the
cheapest courses, but also located right next to Smails Farm
in the middle of the heap of housing developments, a
heap of business, and it's public land that we're not
(08:08):
getting a huge return on that for sure, and so
I would argue that, look, we should be able to
use some of these courses for different purposes, particularly when
they're in dense urban areas, right next to public transport
in the middle of housing development.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Does it feel a bit like the council's hands are
tied here. It's not like we need a law change
to get this done. The council could do this tomorrow,
but the public just doesn't want to let them.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
I think that it's really just the political consequences that
people fear, and it is, as you say, it's council land.
They should be able to do what they like with it.
But it has proved incredibly difficult to just get over
the amount of angst and lobbying that any proposals to
(08:56):
get rid of a golf course generates. I remember going
to a meeting about Chamberlain Park and one of the
local board members, I think it might have been Peter
Hayes being referred to as Judas Haines or something like that.
Grahams maybe Judas Es. There's pretty vehement opposition to it.
It can often have political ramifications for the local councilors
(09:18):
or local board members, and so I think there's a
reticence Todre to coect the hornet's nest, so to speak.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Thanks for joining us, Hayden, thanks a lot.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Chelsea to talk us through the golf course and Auckland
Council's views on it.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
We're joined now by Nsitt Herald reporter Benjamin Plumber. Benjamin,
can you talk about the Takapoona Golf Club's alternate proposal
to wal Auckland councils suggested?
Speaker 5 (09:57):
Yeah, So the Takapuna Golf Club wants the retain the
courses eighteen holes and proposes a dry base on which
would create a flood retention zone. And both ideas are
now being stacked up against each other by the Auckland
Council and it.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Seems like to me that the alternate option, they're pretty
confident that they're going to hit that five hundred and
fifty million leaders as well taught me through that. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (10:20):
So the council's proposal to restore part of the park
area to a wetland and dry detention areas which will
increase flood storage, which they say will be a minimum
from sixty million leaders to five hundred and fifty million leaders,
which is about equivalent to two hundred and twenty Olympic
swimming pools. And they say that any alternative plan would
(10:41):
need to hold this amount as a minimum.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
So I understand that local golfing hero Ryan Fox has
now come out of the would work in favor of
the revised plan.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Hey, yeah, he has.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
So.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
Ryan was playing it tech Burner Golf Club Whindow. He's
trying to get on the PGA Tour. He's now two
time PGA Tour winner, and he had a message over
the weekend just throwing his support behind retaining the full
eighteen hole course. He says it the club provides affordable
access to the game for those wanting to get into
the sport. And you know, it's really exploded in like
(11:17):
the numbers. The number of golfers has exploded since COVID.
I think Golf New Zealand reported a fifty percent growth
club memberships in the last five years, so you know
there's record participation numbers at the moment. In Ryan Fox
says the techapun of golf course is a significant public
asset that provides a great service to golf in New Zealand.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
I think a lot of us have this view of
golf as being a rich person sport. I saw a
quote from Golf and z ED CEO Jeff Latch where
he said that golf is the most played sport in
New Zealand, attracting more than five hundred thousand participants annually
now first off, and initially I was like, oh, I
saw that this morning, and I was like, Okay, that
(12:00):
seems a bit odd to me. But after consulting some
of our colleagues from the Sports department, including Newstalk ZBS
Andrew Olderson, I've come around to it.
Speaker 5 (12:09):
Yeah, no, it's it's obviously, like I said, it's grown
in popularity in recent years, and you know, it's a
game for everyone. Anyone can sort of get involved and
get started at any age of their life. Rugby where
you often started as a kid and play through, but yeah,
a lot of people can start at whatever age. So
just on the point that golf is expensive, a lot
(12:30):
of clubs are, but Takapuna, for example, it's one of
only two public courses in Auckland and very accessible, very
very cheap, so it would be quite a big loss
for those wanting to get into golf.
Speaker 6 (12:45):
I've encourage as much speed intemperance as possibly can quickly
to say it doesn't have you always best because there
is out We'll have a look at that when it comes.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
And how has Auckland Council responded to all of this.
Speaker 5 (13:09):
Auckland Council at the moment, so they're working hard to
balance the needs of the wire Ow community and those
that use the land. At the moment, they say they've
seen great support for golf and say they'll do whatever
they can to accommodate recreational needs, including golf. But they
say what they won't do is prioritize them over the
(13:29):
urgent need to protect people's lives and properties from extreme flooding.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Yeah, both plans are being considered at the moment, things
like costs and the differences between the proposals and those
of we shared after the reviewers complete I believe next week.
Speaker 5 (13:43):
Yes, correct, they say they're currently in the final stages
of anate feasibility assessment of Takapoona's plan, Takapoona Golf Club's plan,
and that's going to be concluded early next week. They
haven't given specifics on how much this will cost, but
the Auckland Council's original plan indicated costs of around fifty
(14:05):
seven million.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
So we're expecting that announcement on Monday about the review
into the project. Then it'll be up to the local
board to make a decision that it'll go out to
the public. Do you think public and industry pushback could
overrule what the council wants to do in the end?
Speaker 5 (14:21):
I think the just on the number of people that
have gone to these public meetings. You know, it's obviously
a hot topic at the moment, and speaking to the
Tech Golf Club, I know there's a lot of sport
for them as well as the rest of the golf
and community, so I know that they're not going to
just lie down without a fight. But I guess we'll
wait and see.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Thanks for joining us, Ben.
Speaker 5 (14:40):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
That's it for this episode of The Front Page. You
can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage
at enzadherld dot co dot nz. The Front Page is
produced by Ethan Sills and Richard Martin, who is also
a sound engineer. I'm Chelsea Daniels. Subscribe to the front
page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts, and
(15:07):
tune in tomorrow for another look behind the headlines.
Kyoda. I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page,
a daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald. Over
the last decade, as New Zealand has grappled with the
housing crisis, golf courses have become a lightning rod for controversy.
(00:25):
Auckland Council alone owns or managers thirteen golf courses across
the supercity, and many campaigners have targeted these sites as
being prime land for housing, though as with any major project,
there are plenty of loud voices on the other side
of the debate. The recent controversy to hit the Green
(00:45):
has nothing to do with housing though, but instead with wetlands,
flooding and the Takapuna golf Course. Ahead of the delivery
of review findings next week, on this case today on
the Front Page, we're unpacking the contentious nature of golf
courses in Auckland, firstly with contributing writer for the spin
off Hayden Dennell. So, Hayden tell me about what's going
(01:12):
on with the Takapoona golf course.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
The basic of it is that this all started on
the Auckland Anniversary Weekends flood when the whole White oh Valley. Basically,
when underwater, two people died, Homes, businesses were destroyed. In
the after mass is that the council had to look
for ways to make sure it wouldn't happen again. And
so they were basically looking for council owned land that
(01:40):
could draw a whole heap of water as flooding ever
took place. And they found that the only big enough
and appropriate section of land that they own is a
copoon of golf course. And so they're proposing to turn
a lot of it into a wetland so that blood's
ever happened and that will store all the water. But
that would mean at least reducing the golf course to
(02:02):
nine holes. That has proved You would never guess this,
but it has proved controversial.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Is the golfers aren't happy. Have they proposed anything else?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
In the meantime, the golfers have got their own proposal.
I'm going to be looking at it a bit deeper
later this week, but they want to They say that
they're going to keep eighteen holes. They say that they
can keep ating holes and still provide enough drainage for
any future floods. I think it's five hundred million liters
of wader or something that needs to be stored to
(02:33):
prevent a repeat of the Upen Anniversary weekend floods. Now,
I think there's being assessed right now by council officials
and there are some doubts about whether that is feasible
or not. And as I understand it as well, there
are other people that have interest in the course and
taking on the lease and maybe working a little bit
closer with the council as well.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Why is it so difficult to get rid of or
to simply amend a golf course.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
It's emotional. I'm not a golfer, so I don't have
the I can't relate to it on a deep emotional
personal level. But I think there's so many people that
a lot of their social life is tied up there,
a lot of their enjoyment takes place in this course,
and the idea of doing away with it that really
(03:20):
offends them on a personal level. There's also I mean,
there's a lot of money, let's say, that's tied up
in a lot of golf courses, and there's a lot
of resources for people that are passionate about the sports
to access and so it's often hard to dislodge the
courses because you'll get a backlash from some of the
more wealthy and well connected members of society who enjoy
(03:42):
using that course. And I mean there's a whole heap
of reasons.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Are you surprised to see so much backlash towards this proposal?
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Absolutely not. I mean you just remember a few years ago,
twenty nineteen, I think it was that Chamberlaine Park golf
course and Mount Albert. The local board they're proposed to
remove half of it and make it nine holes and
give some they definitely needed some sports facilities, community sports facilities,
and that caused a massive backclash. The board was voted out,
(04:12):
the proposal was put on hold or supported. Now so,
I'm absolutely not surprised. It seems like this happens whenever
a golf course is in any way threatened with some
sort of different use remu edit golf course another one
where where Bill Golf is talking about potentially using it
for a different purpose than the local board. The Orducky
(04:32):
local Board extended its least betweenty ninety one, I think.
So this seems to happen just about every time, And
just for context, the council owns. I think thirteen golf
courses an autant and there is something like forty three overall,
so it's not a city that is short of golf courses,
but it's still it proves incredibly difficult to get rid
of any of them.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
If the golf courses plan for eighteen holes and the
wetland proposal that they're proposed works, it covers the same
money and covers the same amount of space, then it
was it would stay a golf course, but they would
be up to the local board. If the council one
was the only one that was possible, be up to
the local board what to do in that remaining space,
(05:17):
So it could be mine, whole golf course and driving range,
it could be whatever the local board.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Went out with.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
I did love the bit in your article about the
woman complaining about duck poo.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, I thought, I mean this is I thought this
was one of the most furious arguments again redeveloping the
golf course. That was a local woman who says that
she likes to use the course to walk her dog.
And if there's a wet land, there'll be heaps of
ducks here, and the ducks or crapp everywhere, and then
the dog it seems will be mainlining the duck poo
(05:52):
and the story that was the story from staff and
it had a picture of the dog looking very forlornly
into the middle distance, which I think was probably the
dog contemplating it set to eating duck footh.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
I love how it was just like the title of
the image, just look looking towards its future of duck
oo meals it.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Didn't look happy about it. Now I know this is
this is one of the more low costs golf courses.
And Chamberlain part was the same where it's not just
the toity toity rich members of society. He use it.
And so there's an argument from like an an equity
perspective to keep as much of this golf course as possible.
(06:32):
But you just couldn't take a better argument. For you,
if you're going to try to do away with some
of the golf course and maybe keep nine holes, then
literally people died and we need a place to store
water so that that will never happen again, and homes
and businesses were destroyed. And if even there's going to
be a time that a golf course actually goes then
(06:52):
it's probably this time, but I still give it up.
I think my last pods was given them a twenty
five to the council twenty five percent jump. I sort
of offer it between that.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I saw a figure on Golf New Zealand's website that
last year golf club membership sat at about one hundred
and forty two thousand, eight hundred and eighty registrations nationwide.
New Zealand has more than four hundred golf courses, which
is apparently the second in the world per capita, behind Scotland.
Why do we need all of them?
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Well, I would argue, and I have argued in the past,
that we don't and I have really no problem with
having a heap of golf courses. People enjoy them used.
But when when they're on public land in places that
could be used for any manner of community facilities or
even housing to address the housing crisis, that's sort of
(07:46):
where it starts getting a bit techier. In this case,
it's where it's needed to prevent flooding that could damage
lives of businesses or homes. Takapuna is one of the
cheapest courses, but also located right next to Smails Farm
in the middle of the heap of housing developments, a
heap of business, and it's public land that we're not
(08:08):
getting a huge return on that for sure, and so
I would argue that, look, we should be able to
use some of these courses for different purposes, particularly when
they're in dense urban areas, right next to public transport
in the middle of housing development.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Does it feel a bit like the council's hands are
tied here. It's not like we need a law change
to get this done. The council could do this tomorrow,
but the public just doesn't want to let them.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
I think that it's really just the political consequences that
people fear, and it is, as you say, it's council land.
They should be able to do what they like with it.
But it has proved incredibly difficult to just get over
the amount of angst and lobbying that any proposals to
(08:56):
get rid of a golf course generates. I remember going
to a meeting about Chamberlain Park and one of the
local board members, I think it might have been Peter
Hayes being referred to as Judas Haines or something like that.
Grahams maybe Judas Es. There's pretty vehement opposition to it.
It can often have political ramifications for the local councilors
(09:18):
or local board members, and so I think there's a
reticence Todre to coect the hornet's nest, so to speak.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Thanks for joining us, Hayden, thanks a lot.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Chelsea to talk us through the golf course and Auckland
Council's views on it.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
We're joined now by Nsitt Herald reporter Benjamin Plumber. Benjamin,
can you talk about the Takapoona Golf Club's alternate proposal
to wal Auckland councils suggested?
Speaker 5 (09:57):
Yeah, So the Takapuna Golf Club wants the retain the
courses eighteen holes and proposes a dry base on which
would create a flood retention zone. And both ideas are
now being stacked up against each other by the Auckland
Council and it.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Seems like to me that the alternate option, they're pretty
confident that they're going to hit that five hundred and
fifty million leaders as well taught me through that. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (10:20):
So the council's proposal to restore part of the park
area to a wetland and dry detention areas which will
increase flood storage, which they say will be a minimum
from sixty million leaders to five hundred and fifty million leaders,
which is about equivalent to two hundred and twenty Olympic
swimming pools. And they say that any alternative plan would
(10:41):
need to hold this amount as a minimum.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
So I understand that local golfing hero Ryan Fox has
now come out of the would work in favor of
the revised plan.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Hey, yeah, he has.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
So.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
Ryan was playing it tech Burner Golf Club Whindow. He's
trying to get on the PGA Tour. He's now two
time PGA Tour winner, and he had a message over
the weekend just throwing his support behind retaining the full
eighteen hole course. He says it the club provides affordable
access to the game for those wanting to get into
the sport. And you know, it's really exploded in like
(11:17):
the numbers. The number of golfers has exploded since COVID.
I think Golf New Zealand reported a fifty percent growth
club memberships in the last five years, so you know
there's record participation numbers at the moment. In Ryan Fox
says the techapun of golf course is a significant public
asset that provides a great service to golf in New Zealand.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
I think a lot of us have this view of
golf as being a rich person sport. I saw a
quote from Golf and z ED CEO Jeff Latch where
he said that golf is the most played sport in
New Zealand, attracting more than five hundred thousand participants annually
now first off, and initially I was like, oh, I
saw that this morning, and I was like, Okay, that
(12:00):
seems a bit odd to me. But after consulting some
of our colleagues from the Sports department, including Newstalk ZBS
Andrew Olderson, I've come around to it.
Speaker 5 (12:09):
Yeah, no, it's it's obviously, like I said, it's grown
in popularity in recent years, and you know, it's a
game for everyone. Anyone can sort of get involved and
get started at any age of their life. Rugby where
you often started as a kid and play through, but yeah,
a lot of people can start at whatever age. So
just on the point that golf is expensive, a lot
(12:30):
of clubs are, but Takapuna, for example, it's one of
only two public courses in Auckland and very accessible, very
very cheap, so it would be quite a big loss
for those wanting to get into golf.
Speaker 6 (12:45):
I've encourage as much speed intemperance as possibly can quickly
to say it doesn't have you always best because there
is out We'll have a look at that when it comes.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
And how has Auckland Council responded to all of this.
Speaker 5 (13:09):
Auckland Council at the moment, so they're working hard to
balance the needs of the wire Ow community and those
that use the land. At the moment, they say they've
seen great support for golf and say they'll do whatever
they can to accommodate recreational needs, including golf. But they
say what they won't do is prioritize them over the
(13:29):
urgent need to protect people's lives and properties from extreme flooding.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Yeah, both plans are being considered at the moment, things
like costs and the differences between the proposals and those
of we shared after the reviewers complete I believe next week.
Speaker 5 (13:43):
Yes, correct, they say they're currently in the final stages
of anate feasibility assessment of Takapoona's plan, Takapoona Golf Club's plan,
and that's going to be concluded early next week. They
haven't given specifics on how much this will cost, but
the Auckland Council's original plan indicated costs of around fifty
(14:05):
seven million.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
So we're expecting that announcement on Monday about the review
into the project. Then it'll be up to the local
board to make a decision that it'll go out to
the public. Do you think public and industry pushback could
overrule what the council wants to do in the end?
Speaker 5 (14:21):
I think the just on the number of people that
have gone to these public meetings. You know, it's obviously
a hot topic at the moment, and speaking to the
Tech Golf Club, I know there's a lot of sport
for them as well as the rest of the golf
and community, so I know that they're not going to
just lie down without a fight. But I guess we'll
wait and see.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Thanks for joining us, Ben.
Speaker 5 (14:40):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
That's it for this episode of The Front Page. You
can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage
at enzadherld dot co dot nz. The Front Page is
produced by Ethan Sills and Richard Martin, who is also
a sound engineer. I'm Chelsea Daniels. Subscribe to the front
page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts, and
(15:07):
tune in tomorrow for another look behind the headlines.
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