The Star: March 19, 2020

• By Louis Day
THE CANTERBURY Cricket
Trust remains confident it can
still host the 2021 Women’s
Cricket World Cup final at
Hagley Oval in spite of suffering
a major set back last week.
Hagley Oval has been granted
the final, scheduled for March
7, and five other matches – but
on the condition the ground has
permanent lights to meet international
broadcasting standards.
The trust is currently fundraising
money to
secure the six
49m lights
which are expected
to cost
about $4.25
million.
But last week,
city councillors
decided
against granting a loan of up to
$1.5 million to the trust after it
was discovered the Government
would not underwrite it, failing
to meet the condition of the loan
needing to be secured.
However, the loan remains
on the table with Mayor Lianne
Dalziel, Deputy Mayor Andrew
Turner and city councillor Sam
MacDonald being the delegated
authority over the loan to determine
acceptable conditions.
Canterbury Cricket Trust
chairman Lee Robinson said it
was confident it could secure the
city council loan within the near
future.
“We are working to resolve this
and are confident in the progress
we are making,” he said.
The Rata Foundation has also
approved a loan of $500,000.
However, it has not been granted
due to certain terms and conditions
not being met. The foundation
would not disclose what
these terms and conditions were
due to commercial sensitivity
and privacy.
Mr Robinson said if the trust
managed to secure these two
loans it would be left with a small
amount of funds to raise and
would have until towards the end
of the year to raise it.
However, Christchurch
Civic Trust chairman Dr Chris
Kissling said “it is not plain sailing”
when it came to securing
the lights.
He labelled a media release
from ChristchurchNZ last week,
which said the city will host six
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Hagley lights not out yet
Lee Robinson
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matches at the world cup, including
the final as “ambitious” considering
the amount of work still
needed to do in order to secure
the lights.
ChristchurchNZ chief
executive Joanna Norris said
it remained confident enough
funding would be secured and
did not view the wording in the
press release as misleading.
“It is everybody’s intention
and our expectation that the
lights will be built, there is some
further details around financing
them to be done but the rights to
host the final have been secured,”
she said.
Yesterday, Dr Kissling
appeared before the
Government’s regulations review
committee after the trust made
a complaint over Associate
Minister of Greater Christchurch
Regeneration Poto Williams’
decision to use earthquake
recovery laws to allow for the
installation of the lights.
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• By Louis Day
A SURVEY has found there is
resounding support for the Eagle
helicopter in the city.
The online survey, conducted
by Christchurch Central MP
Duncan Webb was completed by
more than 1400 people.
It found that 53 per cent
thought it was reassuring and 21
per cent were glad it was here.
However, 12 per cent of respondents
thought the helicopter was
really distressing and a further
12 per cent viewed it as irritating.
Police are currently coming to
the end of a five-week trial of the
helicopter which will finish tomorrow.
Police will then review
the trial and consider making
the Eagle a permanent fixture
across Canterbury.
The survey also found 91 per
cent of respondents thought the
police should be able to decide
Thursday March 19 2020 The Star
NEWS 5
Huge support for
Eagle to stay in city
how to best use resources for
effective policing, although not
without limits.
Fifty-two per cent thought
the helicopter was “an essential
part of policing strategy” and
a further 24 per cent thought it
should stay and they “trusted
police to make decisions about
how to deploy resources.”
In contrast, 11 per cent
thought it should “absolutely”
not stay because it was invasive
and disruptive, and a further
eight per cent believed it should
not stay as it was unnecessary.
Statistics from the city council
show 65 complaints have been
made to the city council’s noise
control unit about the helicopter
since its trial began on February
17, which is significantly less
than the 1186 made about loud
music and parties within the
same time period.
•Letters, page 12
SUPPORT:
A survey
found 53
per cent of
respondents
thought
the Eagle
helicopter
was
reassuring.
PHOTO: NZ
POLICE
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