{"id":586661,"date":"2026-09-01T07:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T07:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/586661\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T07:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T07:28:10","slug":"western-springs-speedway-supporters-lose-high-court-challenge-clearing-way-for-music-venue-redevelopment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/586661\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Springs Speedway supporters lose High Court challenge, clearing way for music venue redevelopment"},"content":{"rendered":"

They argued the public supported the speedway staying at the historic venue, while their social media page detailed plans for new attractions, like a museum and gym, to make the site financially viable.<\/p>\n

However, today the group said the court\u2019s decision had come out and \u201cunfortunately we were unsuccessful\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe law and what is right are not always the same,\u201d the group said in an update to social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you to everyone who joined the fight to save the history and future of our sport. It was always worth fighting for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Western Springs Speedway Association has posted on social media saying they were unsuccessful in their legal challenge but thanked supporters. Photo \/ WSSA<\/p>\n

Auckland Council said it was pleased the court had backed the councillors\u2019 vote.<\/p>\n

Nick Hill, chief executive of council\u2019s event group T\u0101taki Auckland Unlimited, said he welcomed the court\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to develop Western Springs Bowl as a summer music venue and boutique sport stadium for the benefit of Aucklanders,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The council was now building a stage that would be used during the coming summer concert season.<\/p>\n

The WSSA filed for an urgent injunction to halt the works when the redevelopment of the site first began<\/p>\n

They accused the council of \u201cbreathtaking arrogance\u201d for starting building work before the High Court legal challenge into the validity of ending speedway racing had been released.<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s injunction bid also failed.<\/p>\n

\"ConstructionConstruction crews pour concrete over a section of the former Western Springs Speedway track during early works for Auckland Council\u2019s Western Springs Bowl project. Photo \/ Simon Laird<\/p>\n

Councillor John Watson, a staunch supporter of Western Springs Speedway, said at the time the council was displaying \u201cpretty despicable behaviour\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speedway supporter Simon Laird also said that seeing construction begin at Western Springs was \u201cheartbreaking\u201d.<\/p>\n

Fans had remained hopeful that the judicial review would succeed, and the speedway could return to its traditional home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not giving up. Western Springs has a long history with speedway, and we believe it\u2019s worth fighting for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SpeedwaySpeedway events were held at Western Springs for more than 90 years. <\/p>\n

While council voted in 2024 to relocate the speedway, they separately voted 15-6 in March this year to press ahead with the Western Springs Bowl – a proposal to transform the stadium into a Hollywood Bowl-inspired concert venue. <\/p>\n

The decision seemed to confirm speedway would not return to the venue, despite the fight from supporters.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s estimated that $2.5 million of public funding would be required to build a permanent stage structure and for other upgrades to the stadium. That would come out of T\u0101taki Auckland Unlimited\u2019s existing budget.<\/p>\n

Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They argued the public supported the speedway staying at the historic venue, while their social media page detailed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[288893,12067,51,1558,6636,131067,1349,3685,2082,2959,12130,29137,5268,157,111,139,69,7798,3512,1233,37525,213,55600,20420,15314,22974,288892,4495,3593,14047,3457],"class_list":["post-586661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-96yearold","tag-aimed","tag-auckland","tag-been","tag-challenge","tag-clearing","tag-court","tag-events","tag-for","tag-high","tag-inner","tag-keeping","tag-lose","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-race","tag-racing","tag-redevelopment","tag-speedway","tag-sports","tag-springs","tag-supporters","tag-theyve","tag-track","tag-unfortunately","tag-unsuccessful","tag-venue","tag-way","tag-western"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586661","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=586661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}