'Bulls***' call as Rotorua Council agrees lease offer for golf land

A new 30-year lease will be offered to a golf club at the centre of heated council debates.

While a controversial "guillotine clause" remains, Rotorua Lakes Council's newly agreed lease offer rules out using Springfield Golf Course for housing and only allows alternate uses that would keep it a green space.

The debate during a more-than five-hour council meeting had heated moments, with one councillor apologising for calling a comment "bulls***" and the process a "sham".

The Springfield Golf Club has exclusive use of the council's largest freehold section, about 34 hectares.

Its 18-hole course was established in 1948 and the council bought the land in 1965. The club's lease will expire in 2027 and it has no right of renewal.

In recent years, the council has debated using the land for sportsgrounds as part of the proposed Westbrook Sports and Recreation Precinct or for housing, sparking community backlash.

Meetings to discuss the lease offer this year have produced decision delays and heated debate, with one described as a "circus".

In Wednesday's meeting, councillors were presented with five lease offer options. None included a right for renewal.

The council voted for a 30-year lease with an initial 10-year period with no alternative use clause. After year eight the council could give two years' notice for an alternative use of other recreation or stormwater mitigation, requiring public consultation.

The lease would not require public consultation.

Other options included offering no lease, a 10-year lease, a 30-year lease with an alternative-use clause, and a 33-year lease with no alternative-use clause.

Council chief financial officer Thomas Collé said the heart of the decision was balancing certainty of tenure and the city's ability to respond to future challenges.

He said the size and location of the land was significant.

Sport was growing in Rotorua and it could need nine more soil-based fields in the next five to 10 years.

Two new fields were planned and it could use existing facilities more. Each field used at least 2ha, and cost about $2 million to $4m, but finding suitable land could be hard in future.

He said providing no lease for the golf club would give the community flexibility while a 33-year lease with no alternative use clause would require public consultation.

An alternative-use clause — referred to as a "guillotine clause" by councillor Robert Lee — meant future councils could consult the public on whether the land should be used for something else. The options presented narrowed the alternative uses to other recreation and stormwater mitigation.

Mayor Tania Tapsell said the option chosen provided certainty the land would remain a green space for the lease term.

She said community feedback, including through petitions, supported keeping the golf course. She also noted the rising demand for sportsfields.

"The most significant win for Springfield in this decision is that for the next 30 years they can guarantee this land will not be used for housing."

Lee — who was a founding president of the Saving Springfield group prior to being elected and presented a petition opposing the precinct proposal — said an alternative use clause would kill the club, which went against the purpose of a lease.

In his view, the council "predetermined back in 2018 or earlier the destruction of the golf course would come", pointing to an alternate use reference in a 2018 spatial plan.

Lee did not know of any golf club lease with such a clause and questioned why Arawa Park — the racecourse land — had not been considered for sportsfields. Tapsell later said there were restrictions on that land and time left on the lease.

Councillor Fisher Wang said the council was deciding for the whole district, "not for any organisations or movement we are either involved with now or have been involved with in the past".

Councillor Don Paterson said a review found an overcapacity of golf courses in Rotorua, but he said participation was rising. Any lease "has to be sustainably responsible".

He said Golf New Zealand figures put the average lease duration of 13 clubs at 22 years.

Longer terms helped clubs attract investment and he believed 15 years should be the minimum.

Councillor Gregg Brown voiced frustration at the drawn-out debate process — "I just can't do it again, sorry fellas." He acknowledged he may have to.

The discussion was scattered with points of order and verbal clashes.

Lee called out "bullshit" after the mayor called his point of order personal opinion.

"I invite you to withdraw your cursing and apologise," Tapsell said.

He did so, and instead called it nonsense.

"I do remind you councillor Lee that if you continue to act disorderly, we will have to remove you from the meeting."

Tapsell said Lee's conduct caused significant interruptions and valid points of order from other elected members.

A second request for an apology came as she moved the 30-year option for discussion, and Lee spoke over her to move the 33-year option without success.

"What a sham," he said.

"Should I apologise for calling this process a sham? As you wish madam chair."

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air

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