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\nMetallica playing at Auckland’s Eden Park last week. (File photo)
\nPhoto: Tom Grut\n<\/p>\n
A local community board has voted against having more concerts at Auckland’s Eden Park<\/a>, angering a local business association.<\/p>\n The government wants to boost the number of gigs allowed at the venue to 12 large and 20 medium concerts a year. At the moment it was limited to six artists playing a total of 12 gigs a year.<\/p>\n RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop wrote to Auckland Council<\/a> with an eye on loosening restrictions on Eden Park’s operations which he said were costing hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue.<\/p>\n The government was now seeking feedback from the public and council on the findings.<\/p>\n The Albert-Eden local board has voted no to supporting that plan, which infuriated the Dominion Rd Business Association.<\/p>\n The association’s manager Gary Holmes told Checkpoint the decision was “economic vandalism” in his eyes.<\/p>\n “We’ve got business on Dominion Rd fighting to survive a rescission and here we’ve got a local board turning away $250,000 of economic stimulus for our area alone per event and they’re ignoring their own voters.<\/p>\n “We know over 70 percent of locals support more concerts. It’s not just out of touch with businesses but out of touch with reality.”<\/p>\n Holmes said the association had market view data that had shown the impact of spending over time.<\/p>\n