 Draft Golf Investment Plan
The Auckland Council Parks, Arts and Community Events Committee (PACE) met yesterday to discuss the Draft Golf Investment Plan and to vote whether to proceed.
For those interested CLICK HERE for a link to the Video Feed of that meeting, however be warned the entire debate on this subject is almost two hours long. The first 1hr 25mins is spent debating the plan and the final 35mins is the Councillors voting on the plan and justifying that vote.
Legal Letter to Council CEO
On Monday, Golf New Zealand, through its lawyer, sent a legal letter to the CEO of Auckland Council. This letter outlined to Council why any adoption of the plan would be unlawful. This letter was also sent to all Councillors, the Mayor and the Maori Statutory Board.
Despite this letter, the meeting proceeded and councillors were asked to vote on one of the three options:
Option 1: No golf investment plan (status quo)
Option 2: Consult on the changes to golf investment plan
Option 3: Adopt the amended golf investment plan
Although mentioned by several Councillors, the option of starting the process again as suggested by the golfing industry, and working with Stakeholders (Golf NZ and the Clubs) to get things right was not an option put to councillors for consideration.
Conclusion
After a tied vote between options 1 & 2, the casting vote sat with the Committee Chair Cr. Alf Filipaina who was not supportive of the Golf NZ position along with outgoing Mayor Phil Goff, and therefore Option 2 was adopted.
What this means for the golfing sector across Auckland remains to be seen however, during the discussion there was reference to clubs such as Waitemata which sit on low lying land being of little value for other activities, and providing important spaces for stormwater runoff.
In terms of local councillors, we'd like to recognise the support of Cr Richard Hills who spoke against the investment plan process and voted accordingly.
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