Photo: Forbury Park Trotting Club
The sale of a former Dunedin racecourse that has been bogged down by legal action has been given a long-awaited green light.
The last race meeting at Forbury Park was held in July 2021 following advice that it was no longer financially viable or meeting the needs of racing enthusiasts.
The following months were marked with drop-in sessions and consultation to find out what the public wanted for the 12 hectare park including possible housing, extending playing fields or to help the low lying area adapt to climate change.
A few years earlier, in 2019, SEED Housing sought to buy part of the land from the Forbury Park Trotting Club to develop affordable and resilient housing.
Originally, their agreement was to buy 9300 square metres of land. That was reduced to 6400 m2 in 2020 with a purchase prices of $1.33 million plus GST.
But national legislation that came into force that year muddied the waters.
The Racing Industry Act 2020 changed the rules around the sale of surplus racecourses, which Harness Racing New Zealand said meant the club needed its consent to sell the land to SEED Housing, which it refused.
Earlier this year, Harness Racing NZ told a High Court hearing that it considered the deal illegal because it refused to give consent, and a caveat lodged by SEED Housing over the land should be removed so the land could be transferred to Harness Racing NZ instead.
A subsequent High Court judgment decided against that, saying the caveat should not lapse on the condition that SEED started legal proceedings.
In June, part of Forbury Park was sold to the Ministry of Education for a local school's use, which the public had backed during community consultation.
But the negotiations and litigation between the club, SEED Housing and Harness Racing NZ have been ongoing.
Last week, they met to resolve their dispute over the land subject to the caveat.
Harness Racing said they have since reached a confidential settlement and were all pleased to have found a way forward which allowed the Forbury Park site to soon go on the market.
"This settlement means that Harness Racing NZ can now start the process of selling the site with the intention of investing proceeds from its sale to benefit harness racing in the southern region.
"Harness Racing NZ is hopeful that the sale process can be concluded by the end of its financial year of 31 July 2024."