Re: ‘Turning Paradise into a parking lot' news article page 3, The Weekend Sun, May 5, 2023.

I was present at the Tauranga City Council meeting, chaired by Commissioner Anne Tolley, on May 1, 2023.

As reported in both the BOP Times and The Weekend Sun, this was a public forum for interested and affected parties to speak before Priority One presented a preliminary business case for the Tauranga Community Stadium.

Unfortunately, due to technical issues the meeting commenced late. Those wishing to speak were given a very short timeframe to apply for speaking rights, time limitations of five minutes were given and very few time slots were made available. Several people were denied the right to speak by the chair. This is not how Democracy works.

In contrast, Priority One has had months to prepare the preliminary business case and was given the opportunity to fully present it to the meeting.

Commission chair Anne Tolley has publicly been quoted as saying she was disappointed to hear some domain users 'continue to misrepresent what is being proposed”. 'It's been very clear from the start that this was to be an enhancement of the facilities that are currently there”.

How can this be an enhancement? Removal of a world-class all-weather athletics track; removal of a croquet club and the destruction of four superb and long established croquet lawns; removal of the Tauranga Bowling Club and greens; altering the layout of the tennis courts, not suitable to the club; and loss of access to open green space.

The affected organisations are justified in asking questions of the council. They are community groups; their members are residents of Tauranga and ratepayers. They've had: lack of information; lack of communication; no financial costings to date; and no alternative locations supplied.

This is not a misrepresentation of the proposal, and its facts.

The Tauranga City Council and its Commissioners appear not to be interested in supporting sporting activities that are not considered mainstream.

If the stadium proceeds it will include exhibition space, a function centre, a community multi-use facility with changing rooms, lounge space and a sports science/physiotherapy space.

This is a duplication of facilities available at The University of Waikato Adams Centre for High Performance at Mount Maunganui together with exhibition space and a civic whare (public meeting house) in the new building Te Manawataki o Te Papa to be constructed on the old council building site in Willow St.

Priority One chief executive Nigel Tutt has reported the University would use the stadium as teaching space. Ratepayers should not be financing the university – that is the domain of the Government. It's bad enough that the university has been given permission by the Commissioners to build on green space at Sulphur Point.

I am a ratepayer and have seen Tauranga change in the 27 years I've been living here and not all for the better. Tauranga's population has grown, infrastructure hasn't. The CBD was a shopping destination, now it's for lease. The train service to Auckland was discontinued.

The vision for Tauranga sounds wonderful and looks amazing when presented with architectural, digitally-enhanced drawings but where is the money coming from to pay for it? The current cost estimate as of November 22, 2022, to build Te Manawataki o Te Papa is $274.95 million.

At present the stadium cost is estimated to cost $220.2 million, final costings are to be presented to council in September. The stadium is not going to generate a profit and will require approximately $15 million a year subsidy from the Tauranga council. This will only increase over time.

Commission chair Anne Tolley and the Council 'continue to misrepresent what is being proposed”. By failing to inform ratepayers of the true cost of all its proposed developments and the resulting increase in rates.

Patricia Giles, Bethlehem.