Lancaster Park Stands

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30213, 19 August 1963, Page 10

Lancaster Park Stands

The public must now be completely bewildered by the public pronouncements

of City Councillors, mem- ■ bers of the Christchurch F Metropolitan Fire Board, ’ and spokesmen for the Victory Park Board on the new stand at Lancaster Park. The discussion at the meeting of the fire board on Friday threw little light on the rights and wrongs of the matter. Yet clearly important questions of principle affecting the public interest have been raised by the exchanges between the three bodies; and they cannot be left unresolved. The most disturbing aspect of the matter is the apparent immunity, conferred on the Victory Park Board by its legislative charter, from the building by-laws and fire regulations which govern other public and private buildings. The board has taken advantage of this immunity to plan and build stands which do not comply with the standards laid down nationally for such buildings and for which the City Council, if it had any legal standing, would no doubt refuse a building permit. It is a secondary question of principle—although an important one—whether the standard building code errs unreasonably on the side of caution. This, indeed, can be the only justification of the board and its advisers for departing from standards laid down for the protection of the public: and the board does in fact claim that similar large stands built

recently in this district and elsewhere are perfectly safe although they likewise fail to comply with the standard code.

If this is so, it is time the Government set some appropriate authority looking into the matter. Either the standard code should be modified—in the light, perhaps, of experience in New Zealand and in other countries since it was formulated—or the offending stands should be made to comply. That might take time, and the Lancaster Park problem cannot wait. The City Council seems to have been remiss in overlooking an implied invitation to confer with the park board nearly 16 months ago The bodies concerned have held each other at arm’s length for too long; th fey should waste no further time before coming together. Between them, the City Council and the fire board are responsible for the safety of those who attend public gatherings in Christchurch. It would be intolerable if they had to tell the public that they wash their hands of this responsibility at the city’s most important sports ground.