Christchurch City councillors have reversed their decision to slash the number of seats in the city's new multi-million dollar arena.
Photo: Christchurch City Council
The council met again today to make a final decision on the capacity of the Canterbury Multi Use Arena, after it was revealed the 30,000-seat option would cost an extra $50 million, rather than the $88 million originally thought.
A majority of councillors made a preliminary decision last month to reduce the capacity to 25,000, but councillors voted this afternoon to backtrack on that decision.
Its call to trim the number of seats to 25,000 sparked anger among some residents and spurred an online petition. That petition, signed by more than 24,000 people, was presented to councillors this afternoon.
Deputy Mayor Andrew Turner, who earlier voted to cut the number of seats, said residents were calling out for a bigger stadium.
Petition organiser Rob Hough said residents were promised a large venue that could hold major rugby matches.