Unlocking Eden Park: Government Investigates Rule Changes to Boost Major Events Venue

The Government wants to boost Eden Park’s status as a major events venue and is starting an investigation into changing the local rules that could be holding it back, RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say.

Eden Park, with a seating capacity of about 50,000 seats, is New Zealand’s largest major events stadium. Concerts and major sporting events held at Eden Park inject millions of dollars into Auckland’s economy from locals and visitors alike – but current planning rules could be holding Eden Park back from doing more, Ms Upston says.

Last summer Auckland’s economy received a boost of nearly $32 million from several big concerts. These events created jobs and had local hospitality businesses humming.

We want to see more events like these, and the Government’s $70 million events and tourism investment package announced yesterday will allow New Zealand to compete with Australia to host big events and will give international visitors even more reasons to come and explore New Zealand, while also encouraging Kiwis to get out and about.

But we need to make sure that our planning rules are fit for purpose, Mr Bishop says.

We’ve heard that there are local rules and constraints around Eden Park that could be restricting its ability to host events.

For example, Eden Park is only allowed to host six artists playing a total of 12 shows per year. These shows can only take place on certain days of the week, can only have a maximum duration of five hours, have to be finished by 11pm on weekdays, and can host no more than four concerts in a four-week period.

Sporting events face many barriers too. The stadium is currently not allowed to host more than 25 night-time sporting events per year, and they can only be between 7.30pm and 9.30 pm on weekdays (except for cricket which can go until 10pm). Sporting events can’t take place on Sunday evenings.

And despite the stadium’s huge capacity, conferences can’t have more than 2000 people.

Mr Bishop says he will be holding an investigation into whether these rules around events at Eden Park are negatively impacting economic growth, with the potential to make direct changes to those rules if it is found that they are.

This investigation will be conducted under the new regulation-making power in the Resource Management Act, recently passed into law through the Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Bill.

The regulation-making power enables the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform to remove or modify provisions in RMA plans where they negatively impact economic growth, development capacity or employment.

There are steps and safeguards associated with the use of this power. The Minister must investigate the impacts of the provisions and whether specified statutory criteria are met, and produce a report which must be made publicly available.

The Minister must then report to Cabinet with the findings, for a final decision on any changes to the Auckland Unitary Plan. Further details will be announced in the coming weeks.

Note to editor: Under the Auckland Unitary Plan, Eden Park’s current restrictions include: For organised sports and recreation activities •    No more than 25 night-time events per year•    Nighttime events (with ‘night-time’ defined as starting 30 mins prior to sunset) are only permitted between 7.30pm and 9.30 pm on weekdays, except for cricket which may go until 10pm•    No events on a Sunday night•    No more than four night-time events in a 35-day period•    No daytime activity when a nighttime event is held For concerts•    No more than 12 concerts per year•    No Sunday concerts (unless the Sunday precedes a public holiday, or as a contingency date for postponement)•    Permitted weekday operating hours are 7.30pm – 11pm (6.30pm start allowed for supporting acts, but main act must start no earlier than 7.30pm). Events have a maximum duration of five hours.•    Permitted weekend operating hours are 10am – 11pm. Events have a maximum duration of six hours.•    No more than four concerts in a four-week period•    One weekend free of concerts or other events every five weeks For functions, meetings and conferences•    Must not exceed 2,000 people