Shane Henderson: Auckland Councillor on Eden Park winning the vote as the preferred stadium

Eden Park has triumphed in its battle to be Auckland's Council's preferred stadium over building a new facility near the city's waterfront. 

The council has voted to endorse in principle the first stage of upgrading the Park – 17 in favour and two against, with one abstention. 

But it's making it clear it won't pay for it. 

Councillor Shane Henderson told Andrew Dickens that while both bids had their issues, Eden Park had less to do to become viable. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So eden Park won the predictable vote last night on
the council hours of debate talking about this. The key
Park Phantom Stadium will remain in the pile of maybe
one day. They're not in the clear yet though. Of
course Eden Park needs one hundred million dollars worth of
funding to actually build a new north stand, which is
the first stage of their project. So I'm joined now

(00:21):
by Auckland Councilor Shane Henderson, who's been across it.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Allo. Shane got a good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
So this was the predictable outcome, wasn't it because we
said right from the beginning no council funding. Therefore the
one that needed the least council funding gets the nod.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yeah, and we saw with the council staff report before
the meeting that Eden Park had less to do to
become viable. Obviously both did had their own issues, but
so from that perspective, you know, it wasn't too surprising
as that.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Okay, so you've said no money, so therefore obviously Nick
Seutner and his team must be going right now cap
in hand to the government making this a national problem.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, and they can have confidence in raising money with
either government or the private sector because they know that
we've got the backing of the city there as they're preferred.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
That and weren't they included in the fast track They were.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah, so that's another league up there as well. Should
give the public a bit more confidence too.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
So you think is actually going to.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Happen, Well, yes, it seems so. I mean there's a
good bid team there and I sort of stacked their
expertise to try and raise the cash required.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Meanwhile, we've got a load of stadiums in Auckland, three
owned by you and one that is private. The private
one is getting the big nod here, and we're still
no closer to rationalizing all of this.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah. Well, actually yesterday we passed the vote on that
as well, essentially kept starting a stadium investment plan which
should hopefully guide future planning and future decision making for
stadiums in the city. So it was a huge day
for the council.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
So is this an investment plan for a future stadium
or an investment plan to just knock some down and
then fixed some up.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
No, it's an investment plan for the stadiums that we
already have. So we need some decision making principles to
guide that future, and so we've done that yesterday.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
Well the council actually build a permanent stands on the
south of Mount smart because frankly, looking at all that
scaffolding is a bit embarrassing.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, well that'd be one of the decisions we'll have
to make in the near future. So yeah, it's an
exciting space. But as you say, look at really is
the beginning of the conversation rather than the end.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
Okay, the beginning of a conversation, a conversation we've been
having forever, mate. This is exactly the same conversation we
had in twenty eleven during the Rugby World Cup when
the government offered a half a billion dollars in all comment.
Oh no, that seems like far too much work.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
Oh mate. We've been having the conversation of for decades
of the setting and I think a lot of people
are pretty sick of it now. But I hope that
this National Stadium conversation is the bit that we can
put to dead as of yesterday. So that's a good start,
all right, Well done.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
Thank you so much Shane Henderson for waking up early and.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
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