The council has spent millions to keep streets open during stadium events - police say terrorism threat too great

Wednesday, 1 April 2026

Keeping streets around Christchurch’s new stadium open to traffic during large events is too much of a risk to public safety, police say.

Keeping streets around Christchurch’s new stadium open to traffic during large events is too much of a risk to public safety and national security, a security assessment has found.

Although Venues Ōtautahi (VO) chief executive Caroline Harvie-Teare says the organisation is not surprised by the findings, it has forced VŌ to change its traffic management plan.

It may also fly in the face of the council’s multi-million dollar project to upgrade roads and footpaths around Te Kaha so VŌ would not need to close streets during events, something VŌ said years ago could save them up to $480,000 in traffic management.

At a public workshop on Tuesday, city councillors heard VŌ resubmitted its traffic management plan after receiving a police security assessment earlier this year.

The assessment details were kept secret from the public for national security reasons, according to the workshop agenda, but in the public session staff confirmed it was related to public safety and counter terrorism.

According to a staff report, when VŌ submitted traffic management plans in November it wanted to keep the roads open and instead rely on permanent infrastructure the council installed as part of its $34 million Te Kaha streets upgrade (about $11m of which was for critical underground infrastructure).

VŌ chief executive Caroline Harvie-Teare told The Press the police assessment did not surprise the organisation, as the level of terror assessment in New Zealand had changed over the years. She said VŌ received a Crowded Places Strategy, including a hostile vehicle mitigation plan, in mid-March

Closing the roads would make traffic management more expensive, but pedestrians would be safer.

She said the changes meant traffic management costs were higher than hoped, but would be absorbed by VŌ or passed on to venue hirers. Ratepayers would not have to pay the difference, and it would not impact VŌ’s financial projections, she said.

It was too soon to say how much more it would cost, she said. However, she said the estimates aligned with initial modelling.

That modelling, discussed with councillors in 2022, was part of the pitch for a multi-million dollar revamp of roads around Te Kaha. The council has since improved pedestrian infrastructure, widened footpaths and installed new gardens and seating.

At the time, according to a 2022 presentation released to The Press under official information laws, VŌ said the makeover could save the council-owned venues company about $480,000 a year in added traffic management costs. The council estimated a saving of roughly $250,000 a year in traffic management.

An amended traffic management plan with closed streets was approved on March 20.

At the Tuesday workshop, transport staff told councillors they would closely monitor Te Kaha’s opening weekend of April 24-26. They would respond in real time to any traffic issues, and also take note of opportunities to reduce the burden of traffic management on future events.

Stephen Wright, council’s head of transport, said the surrounding streets infrastructure was not intended to cater for an event as big as Te Kaha’s opening weekend, but for events more in the 15,000 to 20,000 attendee range.

He said major events would still benefit from it because it will make coming and going a lot easier for attendees.