Safety concerns raised over proposed Chinese garden at Wellington's Frank Kitts Park

Tuesday, 20 March 2018

Safety concerns have been raised about Wellington's proposed Chinese garden, with a crime prevention specialist saying the enclosed area could encourage antisocial or dangerous behaviour.

The concerns were raised during the second day of an Environment Court appeal against the proposed $5 million Garden of Beneficence, which would be situated at Wellington's Frank Kitts Park.

The garden is part of a planned $10.5m revamp of the park and would be funded by the Chinese Garden Society, but it is facing legal challenges from lobby group Waterfront Watch and former Greater Wellington regional councillor Michael Gibson. 

While the park would be closed at night, Frank Stoks​, owner of Wellington-based crime prevention company Stoks Limited, said the enclosed garden would pose safety risks at both day and night.

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'I fully expect incidents to occur in the Chinese garden at any time of the day or night,' Stoks told environment commissioner John Mills in giving evidence on Tuesday.

Stoks drew comparisons with Wellington's 'Treasure Island', an open space at the edge of Whairepo Lagoon on Wellington's waterfront, at the northern end of Wellington Rowing Club, which saw an increase in antisocial behaviour when plants were installed around it to create intimate spaces.

'That was very pleasant for 99 per cent of people but, unfortunately, that same space was overtaken by people who abused it, who soiled it, who went there to drink, who damaged the amenities there.'

It was a 'functional thematic necessity' for a Chinese garden to be secluded and isolated, which meant there were inherent safety issues which could not always be avoided, Stoks said.

Opening hours for the garden had yet to be decided.

When asked by Gibson about the garden's potential safety issues, Stoks said it could be unsafe in some circumstances.

Those would probably be at night, when people who posed safety risks were more likely to be present, especially those coming from the Courtenay Place area between late Friday evening and early Sunday morning.

He suggested closing the gardens at a 'judicious' time, most likely outside of daylight hours, but did not have any issue with the design of the garden itself.

'I don't believe there are any places within the garden that I would seek to redesign in terms of their spaces.

'At some time, you would no longer have to what amounts as a Chinese garden. It's intrinsic to have those sorts of spaces and I don't have any problem with that.'

Stoks would not be drawn on ideal closing hours, but said antisocial behaviour tended not to occur when other people were around.

Police, security guards, and security cameras would not be able to adequately patrol the area, as there were too many other areas around the city to monitor, he said.

Wellington City Council lawyer Kierra Krumdieck said Gibson had presented no evidence as part of his appeal, and public safety would actually improve under the proposed redesign.

That was reflected by the fact the garden would be locked at night, she said.

There were numerous positive aspects to the design, and the open green areas would be both larger and of a better quality than the current space, Krumdieck said.

She also disagreed with criticism the garden would negatively impact on views from the park.

Wellington Civic Trust chairman Jim McMahon said the organisation was not opposed to the garden, but did not like its proposed location.

That was because it 'fractured' proposed green space into two sections and was not the best use of space.

McMahon also said the proposed redevelopment, which was first submitted in 2006, had not 'kept pace' with changes to inner-city Wellington over the past decade, including a large population increase.

The hearing is set to run for two more days.