A proposal to put housing on a Christchurch park, which is currently used as a golf course, has been called a land grab in the name of earthquake recovery.
New Brighton locals Cathy Baker and Robbie Baigent are campaigning to stop a proposal to have the Rawhiti golf course turned into housing. Photo: RNZ / Rachel Graham
The proposal is part of a government plan for the earthquake damaged red zone, but the park is not in the red zone.
Rawhiti Golf course has been around since the 1930s and is part of Rawhiti Domain, over the road from the beach in eastern Christchurch.
Regenerate Christchurch, the government agency tasked with developing a plan for red zone land, has recently put out 10 proposals for public consultation.
The proposals suggest a mix of future land uses, including cycle ways, flood mitigation, recreation areas, and housing.
Five of the ten proposals include what is described as a land swap - two golf courses, Avondale and Rawhiti - would be turned into housing with a total of around 900 homes.
A new golf course would then be created on earthquake damaged land in nearby Bexley.
Cathy Baker is part of a group called Guardians of Rawhiti, which was established three years ago when the council looked at closing the golf course.
She said people were outraged that once again the well-used green space is under threat.
"People are angry.
"They are angry because this is the heart of our community."
Robbie Baigent is part of a group of around 20 locals who sent an open letter to Regenerate Christchurch asking them to hold public meetings to allow people to be better informed, and to extend the consultation period.
Mr Baigent and Mrs Baker said at the moment the proposal felt like a land grab, and people did not feel they have had enough time or information to have their say.
Mr Baigent said the ten proposals had many positive suggestions for the red zone, but including Rawhiti Domain undermined Regenerate's own consultation process.
"When five of their ten options show a land swap with Rawhiti it shifts people's focus to that, so it comes away from the red zone and it's not beneficial to them to get some decent feedback.
"We've had enough asset stripping over here as it is and the golf course is a massive asset to this community."
Mr Baigent said if Regenerate wanted to increase housing in the area they should look to the red zone land.
"When the area was red zoned it was never said it couldn't be put back into housing. It was always on the mandate that it was cheaper to remediate land on a larger scale and then it could go back to housing rather than do it on an individual property by property basis.
"That that mandate still stands, there is no reason it can't be done. It just feels like they are taking an easy out."
Regenerate Christchurch chief executive Ivan Iafeta said in a statement the public and council feedback had encouraged them to look at land outside of the red zone as part of the regeneration plan.
He said east Christchurch had 5442 fewer houses and this had affected the area in many ways, including the local economy, and the membership of various clubs and societies.
However, only about 100 homes in New Brighton were in the red zone.
Mr Iafeta said residential development was one way of increasing the local population and economy.
A report from Regenerate Christchurch also stated that the strongest financial benefits came from the land swap option.
Regenerate said that in response to the request for more community engagement its staff have attended the New Brighton weekend market, and would continue to for the next two weeks.
Mr Iafeta said it already had around 600 submissions, and were not planning to extend the closing date, which ends on Monday 6 November.