Sage Eugenie: Riccarton Racecourse Development Enabling Bill Riccarton Racecourse Bill — First ReadingsText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSage Eugenie: Riccarton Racecourse Development Enabling Bill Riccarton Racecourse Bill — First Readings[Sitting date: 03 November 2015. Volume:709;Page:7570. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]EUGENIE SAGE (Green): I am pleased to take a short call on the Riccarton Racecourse Bill and the Riccarton Racecourse Development Enabling Bill. The Green Party is supporting both of these bills at the first reading because the law changes that they will make will result in additional and much needed housing in Christchurch and there is a component of affordable housing.We are disappointed that such a large area of green space in Christchurch is being sacrificed. Next week of course is cup day—a high point in the racing calendar in Canterbury—and it is certainly the majestic surrounds of the Riccarton Racecourse with the big trees and the expansive open space that adds to a lot of the enjoyment of that day. There has been increasing concern about nature deficit in children and the loss of access to wild nature and green areas where children can play. The loss of a quarter of the racecourse—some 38 hectares that were set aside as a reserve quite a while ago back in 1878 for the racecourse but that is now used for a variety of purposes: the Riccarton Marketis of course at the racecourse. Some of the area that is proposed for subdivision has been made available by the racecourse trust board for community events: there was a big very successful fracking-free festival and concert held there. It is this green space that is being lost through this bill because the bill revokes the reserve status that was established in 1878 that made the area a racecourse to allow the subdivision and development to occur. We need green space in our cities because they make them attractive and pleasant places to live; they clean up air quality; they provide significant amenity values; and for neighbouring houses they often offer a place for people to go walking to walk their dogs and for children to play.So we will be very interested in the development plans for the racecourse and the extent to which the trust board working with Ngāi Tahu Property provides for reserve areas and green space so that it is not just a mass of houses. This area is certainly within the city limits but we have seen that a lot of the building that has occurred post-quake to accommodate people who had to move has been of mediocre quality. We have not seen high standards in urban design and we have not seen a strong emphasis on medium-density housing. We have seen developments that encourage sprawl. You can go down to Rolleston where a lot of people have moved. There are very few solar photovoltaic panels on the rooves of new homes there. We are losing an opportunity to promote good urban design and medium-density housing that is close to public transport links that has good links to cycleways and that is sustainable in terms of reducing energy costs for the owners and households that take over those homes.So we want to see where we are through this legislation sacrificing open space and reserve land in Christchurch for housing that that housing development and subdivision is of very high quality. There is nothing in the bill that sets the standards for that. The one safeguard in the bill is that there is a requirement that the scheme for the development includes a significant percentage—at least 30 percent—targeted at so-called affordable homes which will be around 180 houses. But “affordable” here is defined as the threshold for first-home buyers to access the KiwiSaver HomeStart grant and that is currently $450000 in Christchurch. That is within no one’s definition of affordable. It would require a major proportion of household income towards a mortgage for a house of that price. Certainly if the development scheme does not proceed there are penalties in the legislation but we would like to see both the trust board and Ngāi Tahu Property if it is the joint-venture partner commit to providing homes at a more affordable price than that as well as ensuring that the subdivision is of very high quality.We have seen under this Government a major attack on urban trees and on green space in our cities with the changes to the Resource Management Act that require any urban tree to be specifically identified and scheduled and planned for it to have any protection and require resource consent before it can be trimmed or felled. We are seeing in places like Auckland significant loss of large urban trees. So here with this bill sacrificing the reserve land for housing there is the loss of a quarter of the racecourse and the green space that that provides.We will be supporting this bill to the select committee but we will be very interested in submissions particularly from the surrounding community because this bill was promised by the Minister Nick Smith in May and it has taken until now to be introduced. The racecourse has had these proposals for development for some time. We want to be assured that there will be the normal 6-month report-back period so that there is adequate opportunity for people to make a submission because it seems that we are seeing quite a rush of bills in the last part of the year that affect Canterbury residents. We have seen the “Environment Canterbury (Half-pie Democracy) Bill”. We have got another bill being discussed this afternoon about changes to the way in which land title and surveying is done. We want to ensure that there is good opportunityfor people particularly for Riccarton and upper-Riccarton residents to make submissions about what they think the implications will be of this loss of a quarter of the racecourse and its designation and making it available for housing development which will benefit the racecourse.At the weekend the finance Minister Bill English talked about changes to both the Conservation Act and the Reserves Act to enable more housing development in our urban areas. We would view those changes with significant concern because it is not green space that threatens or impedes housing development it is the failure of the Government to actually have the promotion of good sustainable planning and good medium-density housing; housing that is based around strong public transport connections and good cycleways so that community facilities and work environments are accessible. We need a promotion of sound urban design not more urban sprawl. We will be very interested in the submissions on this bill. Thank you.