To build or upgrade Council park lighting, clubrooms or facilities, or to use a Council park or playing surface for a game, sport or activity outside of the annual sports field allocation, you may need to apply for a lease, licence or permit.
If you want to:
Complete an application and we can work with you for a lease, licence or permit.
One of the first things we will need to consider is if your activity will comply with the use and management of the park.
Many commercial activities are not suitable or practical to operate in a park due to the way the public will use the park or the legal constraints of how the park is managed.
A licence or a lease means you legally have the exclusive right to use an area of the park for your activity at a particular time and day. This gives you the peace of mind knowing you will be able to advertise your activity and an area of the park will be available for you.
In return for this exclusive use, you will be charged a fee by the Council based on your activity.
Council’s parks are maintained and managed on behalf of all the ratepayers of the city. We need to achieve the best result for the ratepayers when a lease or a licence is issued for a park.
The Local Government Act (LG Act) and the Reserves Act do not allow us to work unilaterally (exclusively) with the first person that approaches the Council to use a park on a regular basis.
The Acts requires us to make sure we do not exclude other people (whether they have a similar or a different activity to yours) from putting forward a proposal to use the same area in the park.
We are legally required to go through the public notification (consultation) process for the area in the park you want to use before we can progress your or any other applications we receive.
Any activities on a Council park must comply with either the Reserves Act 1977 classification (if the park is managed under the Reserves Act) or the Local Government Act. All activities must comply with the Christchurch District Plan.
The Council’s Bylaws, Strategies, Reserve Management Plan and Parks Handbook may also influence whether your proposed activity will be suitable for the park.
Council staff, Councillors, the Chief Executive and the Mayor do not have the authority to grant you an exemption from the legal processes to give you permission to run your activity on a park. The Local Government Act and the Reserves Act legally bind us to follow their processes.
When you wish to apply for a lease, licence, or permit we are required to invite the public to first submit a proposal through an Expressions of Interest (EOI) and/or Requests for Proposal (RFP) process for the sites you are interested in using.
The EOI and/or RFP usually take 4 weeks to prepare.
Since we are following the legal requirements for public notification under either the Local Government Act or the Reserves Act, the EOI and/or RFP will be available on the Government Electronic Tender Service (GETS)(external link) website.
You will need to register with the GETS website to access the documents and submit an application. The applications are usually open between 4 to 8 weeks.
When the Expressions of Interest (EOI) and/or Requests for Proposal (RFP) public consultation close, an evaluation panel will evaluate all of the proposals. Applicants may be contacted for further information.
If the panel has a preferred applicant a staff report will be submitted to the Community Board whose ward the park is located in for their approval to start negotiations for a lease or a licence.
There is no guarantee your activity or proposal will be accepted or is compatible with the park.
If we require an Expressions of Interest (EOI) and/or Requests for Proposal (RFP), the process usually takes a total of 4 to 8 weeks to legally prepare, advertise, and remain open for consultation on GETS.
The consultation is open between 4 to 8 weeks. Once closed the proposals are evaluated. More information may be requested from the applicants, this can take between 2to 4 weeks before all the information is received.
If there is enough information a report is prepared and presented to the Community Board. The report preparation and presentation at the Community Board meeting can take 6 to 10 weeks depending upon the availability of meetings.
When the Community Board approves the applicant for a lease or licence, the legal team will negotiate and prepare the documents. This will take 8 to 16 weeks to prepare, advertise and register the lease or licence documents.
These processes are required under the Local Government Act or Reserves Act to ensure all ratepayers are treated fairly and equitably.
The total time from when a request to use a park to the issuing of the lease could take between 8 to 10 months.
We will need all this information to be able to consider your proposal. Your proposal may be put on hold if we are waiting for you to supply more information.
If your application moves to an Expressions of Interest (EOI) or Requests for Proposal (RFP) you will need to supply a business plan that includes your financial situation and future plans.
Before you make your application you should:
There is no charge for Council staff to assess your initial proposal.
If your proposal requires advertising an Expressions of Interest (EOI) or Requests for Proposal (RFP), there is no charge for the time to prepare these documents. However, we may charge for any required property consultancy.
If the Community Board approves your proposal, Council staff will prepare the lease or licence documents and the following costs will be charged to you:
Each proposal/application is assessed on an individual case-by-case basis. The annual lease or licence fee will be comprised of a:
An estimate of costs can be provided on request if your proposal proceeds to an Expressions of Interest (EOI) or Requests for Proposal (RFP) stage.
Due to the amount of staff time it takes to calculate the costs, an estimate of costs is not provided until after we have received your initial proposal.