In late December a meeting was held between the full board of the CCA and your executive and committee. A major part of this meeting was to help bring the club committee up to date with the current status of the Oval development.
The committee had a full and frank discussion following the two-hour meeting. As a result, the committee continues to support the development, as outlined by the CCA to us at this meeting. However, our support remains subject to the various conditions and assurances that were agreed with the CCA, when our support was first sought back in December 2008.
We have seen several draft plans and, in just the last few days, another one has surfaced, whereby some significant changes, alterations and additions have been promulgated.
Members may well have seen a plethora of letters to the editor of The Press newspaper over the last few days, all giving the ground development a thumbs-down. Most have heard about the embankment being lifted from the initially-proposed 1.8 metres up to 2.3 metres in height. Likewise, the big new building that is proposed on the Oval, which will now be approximately 65 metres long, three storeys high and will house the changing rooms, hospitality area, the groundsmen's implements/soil/office, a media room and other assorted offices.
Your committee will robustly continue to monitor the situation. However, we believe it is every club member's right to express their opinion - maybe to the papers, or just to the committee - as to how you feel about the new development.
We are assured that all the new features will need to get resource consent, not just public notification as was previously thought. A public hearing with submissions will be held before anything is ticked off or put into concrete.
