Wagner Nicky: Christchurch City Council (Lancaster Park) Land Vesting Bill — Second Reading Third Reading 
Wagner Nicky: Christchurch City Council (Lancaster Park) Land Vesting Bill — Second Reading Third Reading 
[Volume:649;Page:18046] 
NICKY WAGNER (National) 
: 
 It is with great pleasure that I rise to support the Christchurch City Council (Lancaster Park) Land Vesting Bill. I was born in Christchurch I live in Christchurch and I work in Christchurch very close to Lancaster Park. Like all one-eyed Cantabrians Lancaster Park has played a really important part in my life over the years. But Lancaster Park is important to people far beyond Christchurch. It is important even to people beyond New Zealand. As Tim Barnett noted Lancaster Park is one of Australasia’s most famous sporting venues. 
It is good to see this bill come back to the House because Christchurch people want to see it passed as soon as possible so that we can begin the revitalisation and redevelopment of Lancaster Park and the AMI Stadium. We want the bill to proceed so we can guarantee that our stadium will be bright shiny and new in time for the Rugby World Cup. 
Many people have worked on this bill in order to bring it to Parliament: the Victory Park Board the Christchurch City Council Ngai Tahu sports and entertainment user groups and the public. It is to the credit of Christchurch people that the process has been genuinely smooth and efficient. It is also to the credit of Christchurch people that unlike the process with many local bills all stakeholders have been fully involved with the process. 
I must pay tribute in particular to Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu who for the benefit of the people of Christchurch and Canterbury have agreed to the promotion of this bill and who have generously deferred their right of first refusal to the purchase of the land under the Ngai Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998 so that Lancaster Park can be redeveloped for the good of all. Lancaster Park certainly needs that redevelopment. 
The ownership of Lancaster Park has changed over the years. It was originally in private ownership and was then held in trust and managed by the Victory Park Board. Now the assets are to be handed over to the Christchurch City Council. Yes the Christchurch City Council will get the privilege of ownership but it will also get the responsibility to fund the very necessary updating and redevelopment of the stadium. The Christchurch City Council and Vbase the council-owned company that manages Lancaster Park have big plans for its future. A $62 million upgrade is underway. The redevelopment plans have been discussed and worked on for years. The upgrade is supported by the whole community including the local neighbourhood association—a situation that is particularly unusual in terms of a stadium redevelopment. The upgrade is supported also by the Historic Places Trust local and national sporting bodies local councils and individuals. Everyone has had a chance to have a say. All the issues have been well and truly ironed out and we all look forward to the development of a modern sports stadium that all Christchurch people can use and enjoy. 
But Christchurch people have always supported their park and have been prepared to put their money where their mouths are. The managers of Lancaster Park and AMI Stadium have developed a very successful business model and with the support of membership fees naming right fees and corporate sales the venue is 80 percent user-pays. That level of 80 percent user-pays is a level of self-sufficiency not met by any other stadium in the country. 
Like most Cantabrians I have spent hours at Lancaster Park over the years and enjoyed a wide variety of different experiences. Lancaster Park is a very versatile venue and has been used for almost everything since it was founded in 1880. It has been used for all types of sport including the mainstream—cricket rugby athletics—and also for rather exotic sports such as ballooning Scottish sports and even penny farthing bike races. 
It has also been used for other more mundane purposes such as growing spuds during World War I. It was used for training soldiers during World War II. My father-in-law was billeted there for a couple of months in 1942 with the 36th Canterbury Battalion. He and up to 900 other soldiers underwent their basic training there and it was a pretty basic place too. They slept on wooden boards and washed at the tap out the back. They trained there before they left for the Pacific theatre and my father-in-law must have been pretty well trained because he came back and he came back to enjoy many more occasions watching footy at Lancaster Park. 
Lancaster Park has also hosted almost every different type of entertainment: from fireworks to wild west shows from Christian rallies to heavy metal bands and from marching girl competitions to cool jazz concerts. But probably the most vivid memories for Cantabrians are of the wonderful Crusaders—the music the horses and of course those red and black rugby players. Yes Lancaster Park is central to the Christchurch way of life. It has been well used in the past and has served many purposes. This bill will make sure that it is able to be redeveloped to meet our needs now and into the future. 
Finally I thank Tim Barnett for sponsoring this bill. He has done a good job. I wish him all the best for his future and promise him that I will take special care of Lancaster Park and the Christchurch Central electorate in his absence. Thank you.