Press Release: Save the Basin Campaign Congratulates Wellington City Council

A artist’s impression of what the Sussex Street side of the Museum Stand could look like after refurbishment, including a new entrance for the NZ Cricket Museum.

Save the Basin Campaign applauds Wellington City Council’s proposal to save the historic Basin Reserve Museum Stand.

“Not only are they keeping it, earthquake-strengthening it and restoring its unique heritage features, they are creating a greatly enhanced facility”, says STBC co-convenor Joanna Newman.  

“If this plan is approved by Council, the Museum Stand will be better for spectators, provide many more facilities, and make the world-renowned NZ Cricket Museum easier to access both on match days and non-match days.”

The Basin Reserve is one of the world’s best cricket grounds, but it’s not just about cricket. From junior rugby on Saturday mornings, to functions in the RA Vance stand, to a quiet place to sit and have lunch, the ground is used day and night, and all year round.

With assistance from the Basin Reserve Trust, Wellington City Council has come up with a proposal that is affordable, responsible and forward-looking. Renovating and improving the Museum Stand ticks all the boxes.

By restoring and giving the Museum Stand new life, the Council is recognising the special place this Heritage New Zealand registered site has in the hearts of Wellingtonians and people around the country. 

“We can continue to be proud of this unique community and cricket venue and of its custodianship by our City”, says Joanna.

Further reading

Restoring it, not bowling it

Taking A Stand: Transport, Motorways, the Basin Reserve, and the Future of the Museum Stand

Interior of the Museum Stand, Basin Reserve. Photo by David Batchelor.

Last Thursday’s inaugural Congestion Free Wellington Public Meeting was a great success. Between 70 and 80 people attended, there was very strong support for the concept of the Congestion Free Wellington Declaration (albeit with some tweaks still needed to the wording), and there was a lot of enthusiasm and commitment for the community to seize this rare opportunity to wrench Wellington’s transport destiny into our hands, rather than have it left in the hands of the motorway-builders.

Save the Basin is one of the groups that’s set up Congestion Free Wellington, and we’ll keep you up to date on that. But it’s not the only issue we’re focused on. The future of the Basin Reserve’s historic Museum Stand is due to be decided this year. Even though the Council has not yet released any options – or costings – the Mayor has gone on record as saying he supports the demolition of the stand.

But does he realise what he would be demolishing? David Batchelor of Historic Places Wellington does realise, because he has been inside the stand and photographed some of its forgotten treasures. Head on over to Wellington Scoop to see just what treasures would be lost if the Mayor gets his way.

Save the Basin thinks that the Museum Stand deserves to be preserved and enhanced. At the very least, we want the best possible option for its retention developed and considered fairly and in detail against alternative proposals – without the Mayor, or anyone else, trying to predetermine the outcome.

Co-Convenor’s Report to the 2016 Save the Basin Campaign Inc. AGM

The Save the Basin AGM was held last night, and my Co-Convenor’s report was adopted. I’m publishing it here as my summary of where things currently stand on the Basin and related issues – Tim Jones

UPDATE: NOTE FROM FRIENDS OF THE BASIN: Members of Save the Basin, Mt Cook Mobilised, Mt Victoria’s Residents Association, Newtown Residents Association, and other interested people have met to coordinate activities and share information about the development of the Basin Reserve Cricket Ground, and to work toward influencing decisions to create greater community use of the grounds and to protect its heritage. If you are interested in further information, or want to participate in this group, please contact alana.bowman@mac.com.

The Past Year

My Co-Convenor’s Reports to the 2014 and 2015 AGMs were both dominated by news of court cases – good news! In 2014, I was able to report that NZTA’s plan to build a Basin Reserve flyover had been defeated at the Basin Bridge Board of Inquiry. In 2015, I reported that NZTA’s appeal of that decision had been defeated at the High Court. In both cases, Save the Basin Inc. was one of the groups that played a big part in getting the right decision.

As I said in 2015, this was a major victory for the four groups that appeared to oppose NZTA’s appeal: The Architectural Centre, Mt Victoria Historical Society, and Mount Victoria Residents Association and Save the Basin Campaign Inc. – and a most welcome vindication for the Board of Inquiry’s patient, thorough and decisive analysis and decision.

Another year on, there is no big legal battle to report on, since NZTA chose not to pursue their vision of a flyover all the way to the Supreme Court – but while the issue has had a lower profile over the past year, plenty’s being going on behind the scenes.

In the wake of the High Court decision, two new official processes were set up: Let’s Get Welly Moving and the Basin Reserve Redevelopment Project. Let’s Get Welly Moving is a joint project between NZTA, Wellington City Council and Greater Wellington to reconsider transport options and projects around Wellington – not just at the Basin, and not even just along State Highway 1. And the Basin Reserve Redevelopment Project is Wellington City Council’s project to revamp the Basin itself, both as a cricket and as a recreation ground. The decision on the future of the Museum Stand is separate from but related to this project.

Save the Basin has met with senior staff from both projects, multiple times in the case of Let’s Get Welly Moving. Unfortunately, both projects have been bedevilled by staff turnover in key positions, including the original Project Directors of each project taking up other positions and having to be replaced. This has slowed the momentum of each project, and we are concerned that, so far, there appears to have been little communication between the two projects or their personnel.

Let’s Get Welly Moving has been carrying out extensive public engagement, and conducting research to inform its decision-making. It’s also been developing a suite of transport modelling tools designed to better capture the reality of a modern multi-modal transport system. Its original schedule has been pushed out a little, and it is now meant to come up with a range of scenarios for Wellington transport – not limited to the Basin, and not limited only to building infrastructure – by around March 2017. At this stage, with alternative options going on the table, I expect the Basin debate will sharpen once again, and Save the Basin’s voice may need to be strongly heard.

The Basin Reserve Redevelopment Project has also held public consultations, which Save the Basin contributed to, and the Council’s decision on the fate of the Museum Stand is expected in 2017.

The 2016 local body elections

Had the outcome been different, the 2016 local body elections could have partially or completely derailed the processes discussed above. Of the three leading Mayoral candidates, both Nick Leggett and Jo Coughlan wanted “four lanes to the planes”. Nick Leggett was an unrepentant supporter of building a Basin Reserve flyover, while Jo Coughlan proposed to short-circuit the LGWM process entirely by grabbing hold of a supposed billion dollars’ worth of Government funding and making a decision about the future of the Basin by Christmas 2016.

Neither prevailed. Justin Lester, who won convincingly, was a consistent opponent of a Basin Reserve flyover while he served as Celia Wade-Brown’s Deputy Mayor, and he now leads a Council which, in my opinion, has moved slightly further away from the views of the cars-above-all-else lobby. Similarly, while we were disappointed to lose such strong advocates of sustainable transport from the Regional Council as Paul Bruce and Nigel Wilson, and it was a disappointment that supportive candidates such as Russell Tregonning did not make it onto that Council, the signs are cautiously positive for more modern, sustainable, and forward-thinking transport policy in the Wellington region – though much still depends on the Government’s attitude.

The transport portfolios as the City Council have gone to Chris Calvi-Freeman and Sarah Free, while Paul Swain will no longer be leading the transport portfolio for the Regional Council. I’m hopeful that these changes will mean a greater openness to the notion that transport in a modern capital city is about more than moving more cars more quickly.

One other issue on which Save the Basin has submitted is the proposed extension of Wellington Airport’s runway, which is currently the subject of a resource consent application. As a group, our primary concern here is construction traffic. The airport company has asked for consent to run 23-metre long heavy trucks day and night, from 9.30am-2.30pm and 10pm-6am, along State Highway 1 for 3-4 years (and possibly up to 10 years) to transport up to 1.5 million cubic metres of fill between Horokiwi and Kiwi Point quarries and the airport. The planned route goes around the Basin Reserve and through the Mt Victoria tunnel – and the airport company is projecting up to 620 of those heavy truck movements a day, at a frequency of up to one heavy truck movement per minute. We consider this would have a serious impact on residents along the route, on the safety and comfort of other road users and pedestrians, on the transport network, and on the environs of the Basin Reserve.

Conclusion and thanks

While 2016 has been a relatively quiet year in comparison to the previous two, that may well not be the case in 2017. Therefore, it’s important for Save the Basin to remain active, both to advocate for the future of the Basin Reserve as a cricket and recreation ground and public facility, and to maintain our standing in terms of future decision-making processes, and any legal processes that may arise from those. I’d like to thank Treasurer Ross Teppett and committee members Kate Zwartz, Judith Graykowski, Alana Bowman and Pauline Swann for their hard work and support, and to all our supporters who have stuck with us and continue to work for a better future both for the Basin Reserve, and for Wellington’s transport system.

Tim Jones
Co-Convenor
Save the Basin Campaign Incorporated

Basin Reserve Redevelopment: What Are Your Priorities?

Now that the Basin Reserve flyover proposal is consigned to the dustbin of history, work will soon begin on the redevelopment of the Basin Reserve as a cricket and recreation ground – and you have until 12 September to submit your ideas.

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Here’s what the project team has told us so far:

We’ve been working on a number of engagement options including the website and general public feedback portal that went live over the weekend — http://redevelopthebasin.org.nz/

We are developing different ways for people to let us know about how they want to use the Basin Reserve and what we can do to make it better for the people of Wellington, both as a premiere cricket venue and as a recreation space.

These are going to be considered as part of preliminary concept designs that local architects, Tennent Brown, have been commissioned to deliver. Once the concept designs are ready, we can continue to engage with people to test and refine our priorities and options before any reports are taken to the Council.

The redevelopment will keep premiere test cricket at the Basin and open it up as a recreation space on non-game days. There will be fancy facility upgrades and better links for pedestrians and cyclists. With your input, we’re going to take a good thing and make it even better.

The Basin Reserve is one of the world’s top ten cricket venues. It’s also one of NZ’s most historic and picturesque cricket grounds. The Basin Reserve Trust has developed a Masterplan to present a 25-year vision for the future of the ground. You can find this plan online.

You can find more content from the project team (including videos and pics) at http://redevelopthebasin.org.nz/

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