{"id":370104,"date":"2026-04-08T21:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T21:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/370104\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T21:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T21:00:08","slug":"christchurch-apollo-projects-stadium-future-in-limbo-after-council-delays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/370104\/","title":{"rendered":"Christchurch Apollo Projects Stadium future in limbo after council delays"},"content":{"rendered":"

Head of recreation, sports and events Nigel Cox said the completed report will be considered by the Finance and Performance Committee soon. In the meantime, no large-scale events<\/a> are planned beyond April 18. <\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the council may choose to use the venue for community sport<\/a> if the site is safe, noting the temporary grandstands and buildings will be decommissioned,\u201d Cox said. <\/p>\n

A timeline will follow once a public tender is completed.<\/p>\n

Local councillor Melanie Coker warned there is a risk the site could sit idle<\/a> while decisions are made and the new stadium is in operation. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn my view, the land should be available for community use as a neighbourhood park during this period,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"CrusaderCrusader Codie Taylor scores a try during the side’s final Super Rugby Pacific match at Apollo Projects Stadium on April 3. Photo \/ John Davidson \/ www.photosport.nz<\/p>\n

Coker has consulted widely online, receiving a broad range of ideas: returning the land to Canterbury Rugby League, creating a neighbourhood park or food forest, adding sports facilities, carparks, or developing housing or shopping complexes. <\/p>\n

She confirmed the public will be consulted, though no definitive timeline has been set. <\/p>\n

\u201cI imagine consultation will not start until after One NZ Stadium opens<\/a>,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Canterbury Rugby League (CRL) publicly called to be involved in the council consultation last year, given the site\u2019s previous use as Rugby League Park. <\/p>\n

CEO Malcolm Humm said the organisation had been talking with the council over the past six weeks and is happy with how things have landed and its operations at Ng\u0101 Puna Wai. <\/p>\n

He said tensions have been alleviated and the future of the site isn\u2019t CRL\u2019s business.<\/p>\n

Harewood councillor Aaron Keown, who was on the council when the stadium was built, said the site has served the city well but should now deliver the best economic return. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no longer needed as a sports ground<\/a>. Some would like it to remain that way, but it\u2019s too valuable,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Keown supports retaining a small piece of the turf as a nod to its sporting history<\/a>, even if the rest of the site is redeveloped.<\/p>\n

Arvida South Island development team manager Peter Hornby, representing the neighbouring retirement village, said: \u201cIf the council were to consider a sale and run a formal process, we\u2019d be interested in understanding that in more detail and potentially being involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both councillors acknowledge the difficulty of balancing public feedback with budget and development pressures. <\/p>\n

Coker said opinions are \u201cextremely mixed\u201d and stressed a clear mandate from Christchurch residents would be needed to retain the land for community purposes.<\/p>\n

Jaime Cunningham is a Christchurch-based reporter with a focus on education, social issues and general news. She joined Newstalk ZB in 2023 after working as a sports reporter at the Christchurch Star.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Head of recreation, sports and events Nigel Cox said the completed report will be considered by the Finance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[74,534,53955,8474,4487,50545,5205,16492,6119,3273,226,78,2845,80652,10005,111,139,1536,69,13578,29056,10056,18988,213,16674,204,16641,3462,7188,102],"class_list":{"0":"post-370104","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-after","9":"tag-amid","10":"tag-apollo","11":"tag-chapter","12":"tag-christchurch","13":"tag-christchurchs","14":"tag-council","15":"tag-delays","16":"tag-faces","17":"tag-future","18":"tag-growing","19":"tag-in","20":"tag-leaving","21":"tag-limbo","22":"tag-list","23":"tag-new-zealand","24":"tag-newzealand","25":"tag-next","26":"tag-nz","27":"tag-projects","28":"tag-proposed","29":"tag-repeated","30":"tag-sites","31":"tag-sports","32":"tag-stadium","33":"tag-temporary","34":"tag-uncertain","35":"tag-unclear","36":"tag-uses","37":"tag-with"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}