Locke Keith: Wellington City Council (Te Aro Reclamation) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Locke Keith: Wellington City Council (Te Aro Reclamation) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:619;Page:14629] 
KEITH LOCKE (Green) 
: 
 The Green Party welcomes the passage of this bill and I wish to present some of the thoughts on this matter from Wellington Green MP Sue Kedgley who unfortunately cannot be here. She says that this bill has been of concern to us as it would have allowed the Wellington City Council to sell off the precious Jack Ilott Green near Wellington’s wonderful waterfront without reference to any other legislation in this country. The Local Government and Environment Committee under the chairpersonship of the Greens co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons made some important changes to this bill which have meant that the Wellington City Council will now have to consult with the people of Wellington before selling off that important bit of green space. 
As the bill was originally drafted the council would not have needed to consult with the public over the sale of the land and we found that to be unacceptable. The community has expressed significant concerns about the sale of this land and has long campaigned for its retention as a park. So it is right that the council should consult on what is done with this park. The council will now have to comply with section 12 of the Local Government Act 2002. We do not believe it is the place of Parliament to say what land councils should retain but we do have a responsibility to ensure that the council complies with other laws of this country. The bill as it was originally drafted gave the council powers that were too broad. We are also pleased to see that the council is already committed to consultation on the use of the land by the special consultative procedure under section 138 of the Local Government Act. That section stipulates that a council must consult before disestablishing a park. 
We do however remain concerned about the future of this land. The council seems to have made up its mind to build a music school on the site irrespective of the outcome of consultation with the public or what the public may want. That mindset of building the school irrespective of what the public thinks does not seem to be in accordance with the spirit of the Local Government Act. Section 82(e) of the Act stipulates “that the views presented to the local authority should be received by the local authority with an open mind and should be given by the local authority in making a decision due consideration:”. We hope to see the council take that section of the Act into consideration when it makes a decision on this land. There is a dearth of green space in our capital city. It is time that we created more green space for inner city dwellers and for those who come in from the suburbs to enjoy the city. Sue Kedgley believes the future of Jack Ilott Green is a significant issue for Wellingtonians and she envisages that the possible siting of a music school on that site will be a major issue in this year’s local elections. 
I would also like to add some comments of my own as someone who lives nearby at Oriental Bay and walks through the park reasonably frequently. The Minister in her initial speech indicated that not many people use it. When I walk through it I do often see other people there. I would say that the reason why Jack Ilott Green is not used very much as a park at the present time is that it has not been developed fully as a park. It has a very run-down look about it as if it were in a sort of holding pattern and in its present state people would not be encouraged to use it as a park. 
But I think Jack Ilott Green does have significant potential. There is much more of a movement in the recreational activities of Wellingtonians towards that end of the city. We have seen the development of Courtenay Place Te Papa the developments around the waterfront and most recently the extra sand and other developments at Oriental Bay itself. I imagine that if we have a good summer this year in Wellington on many days there will be crowds and crowds of people around the area from Courtenay Place through to Oriental Bay. If this land was developed as a nice park with unique recreational characteristics I imagine that considerable use would be made of it and that it would provide a bit of a link between Te Papa and Courtenay Place. Fitting in to some degree with what the Minister says—and getting away from the question of whether Jack Ilott Green should become the site of a music school—I think the land would be a good link between Te Papa Courtenay Place the other developments on the waterfront and what is happening at Oriental Bay. 
I hope that the Wellington City Council will take account of all the submissions of its citizens and will develop Jack Ilott Green in the interests of Wellingtonians and of people from around the country who are drawn to Wellington to go to Te Papa and Oriental Bay. Hopefully those people will use this park as well as Wellingtonians.