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Petone Arena Proposal - an Update Petone Cricket AGAINST arena proposal

Last week the Petone Cricket Club met to discuss the Proposed Petone arena and have decided to submit AGAINST it. If the arena were to go ahead, the cricket club considers it would not survive. Petone Cricket is to make a submission AGAINST the arena proposal. 

Petone Sportsville Support Cricket and Rugby

The Community Facilities Trust (Matt Reid and Alastair Skene) met with the Petone Sportsville member clubs and Petone Sportsville. After some "interesting" discussion, Petone Sportville have decided to support Cricket and Rugby in their opposition to the arena proposal. 

Moving Goalposts / Changing Rules

In the last edition we showed two diagrams of ground layout that were presented to us (Before and After) by CFT and which some of our argument was based upon. Since this information was published, the CFT have produced yet another "draft" layout. This latest draft only serves to confirm that the arena proposal is not in the interests of the community and if allowed to proceed both Petone Rugby Football Club and the Petone Riverside Cricket Club will not survive.

Here is the sequence so far:

From This...	While very much a concept (draft) plan, this was presented to PRFC Members by CFT immediately prior to a public meeting held at PRFC Clubrooms. It clearly shows concrete concourse to the East and South-East of the ground labelled "The Weltec Plaza" and two soccer grounds in the northern end of the Rec.
To this...	One major concern for Club and Community was the loss of large area of (contiguous) green space and this second version has removed much of the concrete on the outside of the arena to give the impression that green space is retained - an insult to our intelligence! Not shown here (but it appears on a subsequent plan) is a junior rugby field on the east side (the Weltec Plaza.) It will get no sun, will be a bog in the winter and the CFT are expecting 12,000 people to walk across this and the apparent increased amount of grass to the south of the arena.
To this...	This ground layout diagram was presented to the PRFC and around which part of our decision was based.  Petone Cricket also came to the same conclusion which will see them submit AGAINST the proposed arena. Focus Groups held recently (and commissioned by CFT) were asked to consider these layout plans.  Neither club will survive if the arena goes ahead and this will have a direct impact on community sport in the Hutt Valley and Wellington Region.
To this.	Draw your own conclusion. In the meeting with Sportsville Clubs CFT said that soccer fields will run East-West in the summer and North-South in the winter. We say "what soccer fields? And if soccer, what happens to cricket?"  The Phoenix training ground has disappeared and our Junior playing fields are still hugely reduced. Cricket gets one pitch back but it is debatable whether all the Junior pitches fit.  It is becoming more obvious with each plan iteration that CFT is trying to fit square pegs into round holes. This is no more graphically obvious than in this plan. (Note - a winter layout plan has been released in the last day or so.) If this layout is to be believed, the Community Concert area has cricket pitches in it. The large crowds that CFT says will attend, will be walking / picnicking / partying all over the cricket pitches. What famous beer advert is this starting to sound like?

Submissions

Submissions close at 5pm on Friday 16 May - There are several ways to complete a submission.

You can complete the questionnaire online - note this will require registering through the Hutt City Council Website;

You can email your feedback:

You can write to the Hutt City Council at, Draft Annual Plan, Freepost 100039, Private Bag 31-912, Lower Hutt 5040.

If you lodge a submission by 5pm on 16 May, you can also talk to the Mayor and Councillors about your thoughts at meetings to be held on the 28th and 29th May.

Council will meet on 11 June to consider the submissions and make final decisions.

Focus Groups

The CFT commissioned a Research & Evaluation company to run three Focus Groups. The sessions were professionally run but the facilitators conceded that the timeframe they were given to complete these sessions was very "tight."

Focus Groups were presented with material that included the same ground layout plans presented to PRFC.

The groups were 1. Business Owners; 2. Retirees over the age of 60; 3. Eighteen to Twenty-five year olds.

Note that the largest demographic, non business owners over the age of 25 was not a part of this research.

PRFC contends that because the largest demographic has not been included and that the CFT has since changed the ground layout plans, the findings of this research is potentially flawed. 

Social Impact Report

On Friday 2 May, CFT provided Petone Sportville Clubs with a draft version of an independent report put together by Giblin Group. The report (which is now on the HCC website) we understand will be presented at tomorrow nights public meeting at the Petone Workingmans Club. We showed it to several consultants who are club members (or partners of) and they made the following comments:

"There are so many fundamental flaws in it, I would be horrified if one of my consultants produced this." 

"I'd be embarrassed to present this to any of my clients AND if I was one of my clients, I certainly wouldn't pay for it."

"I have just had a quick scan and it made me really angry..."

PRFC notes that the report states "Consultation with the community was not part of the scope of this report. Rather desktop research has been undertaken on the effects such a development can have on the social outcomes of a community."

We will comment further about this report when we understand CFT's "take" on it.

Keep our Green Blue, not Yellow

We have just seen today that the Yellow Fever are going to template submissions for people to complete as well as solicit the local football clubs to support them.

We encourage all members to complete a submission AGAINST the proposal and we will have people at the club next week on Old-Timers Day to assist.

More to come later in the week - in the meantime get your submissions completed and in to the Council.