Re: ‘Tauranga Stadium lunacy' (letter by Rob Paterson, Ohuaiti.

The Weekend Sun, December 16, with right of reply from Tauranga City Council Commission chair Anne Tolley).

So, Commission chair Anne Tolley thinks she will deflect my attack on the proposed new stadium lunacy. Well for openers she hasn't challenged anything I said, so my assessment must be stand. She simply comes up with a fatuous, lame excuse Tauranga needs more amenities and facilities – like what? New Olympic pool and events centre at Memorial Park, a CBD convention centre/hotel, a velodrome, concert venues and perhaps a three-ring circus but hey isn't that TCC itself?

As for Tauranga tennis, bowls, croquet clubs proposals why are TCC wasting money with Priority One whose recent meeting with Tauranga Lawn Tennis achieved nothing, as the main promoters were silent, producing no draft business case, nor even an estimated cost of relocating.

Take it from me, relocation costs would be around $10 million-plus with no other suitable land available unless Memorial Park, Marine Park or Pemberton Park are targeted.

Unsettling and severely disrupting these clubs, which are long established and a good fit on the domain landscape, is unjustified and replacing them with a white elephant concrete jungle for only five NPC Rugby games and a couple of concerts a year is ludicrous.

Stop baying at the moon Commissioners, and get on with the day job other than creating traffic chaos. Ostensibly Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta installed Commissioners to put things right, not to ruin Tauranga with the likes of obscenely priced civic precinct at $304 million, on liquefaction-prone reclaimed land. Consultancy will be non-existent just like the 2023 Annual Plan and Long Term Plan.

Transparency and integrity go together. That is not happening in this case. I challenge the Commissioners to fully publish in this newspaper the feasibility report and draft business case as far as they go at present and publish regular updates as they come to hand.

Rob Paterson, Ohuaiti.

***TCC replies: The Tauranga Community Stadium proposal is being led by Priority One. A business case for this project is under development and its findings will be shared with the community when it has been completed.