Hagley Oval lights lease

New lease area

The six permanent lighting towers would stand a maximum of 48.9 metres high. The new lease for each tower and utility cabinet would be 128m2, making the total lease area for all six lighting towers 768m2.

The six tower option results in a symmetrical arrangement, maintains the clearance to the exclusion zone behind the bowler and keeps the towers well clear of the historic Umpire’s Pavilion.   

Reducing the number of towers would increase the potential for glare to players and spectators, provide uneven lighting coverage across the playing surface, and increase the light spill into the surrounding area.

Lighting towers

The base of each pole will have a buried concrete foundation of approximately 8 metres x 8 metres.

Each of the lighting towers will extend to a maximum height of 48.9 metres, including the headframe.  The headframe would be a maximum width of 14.3 metres. 

The part of the tower that will prevent public access would be where the pole meets the ground, which would be less than 2 meters in diameter.

Utility cabinets

At the base of each of the six lighting towers, there will be at least one utility cabinet.  Two out of the six lighting towers (to be either towers 2 and 5, or towers 3 and 6) will also have a transformer and kiosk.

The maximum area that will be occupied by any utility cabinet(s) will be approximately 8 metres in width, 2.5 metres in height, and 3 metres in length.

The proposed new lease for the six areas of land totaling approximately 768m² will be on the same terms and conditions as the existing lease. This includes the ground rent and a termination date of 30 November 2046.

The new lease will be put into effect by way of a variation to the existing lease to the Canterbury Cricket Trust that replaces the current four lighting towers areas, with new areas for six lighting towers. The new lease will be granted under Section 54(1)(b) of the Reserves Act 1977.

Hagley Oval is one of New Zealand’s premier cricket fields

In 2013 the Environment Court granted CCT a resource consent to develop facilities at Hagley Oval for domestic and international cricket matches, including tests, one-day internationals and Twenty/20 fixtures.

The consent included a two-storey cricket pavilion and the installation and operation of four partly-retractable lighting towers with headframes that could be removed. A condition of consent for the lights was that the headframes, which retracted to 30.9 metres, be removed and stored out of sight in the cricket off-season.

The pavilion was constructed along with other developments that included the cricket field and block of pitches, a grassed embankment, practice fields and practice net area. However, the four partially-retractable lighting towers allowed for in the current lease were not constructed.

Since 2013 Hagley Oval has hosted many national and international fixtures and has become a popular cricket ground for both players and spectators.

There are international venues which have four or five lighting towers, and CCT did consider if international broadcasting standards could be met with fewer than six towers.

However, having fewer towers creates issues such as:

• increased light spill and glare to levels where  it would not be compliant with the District Plan rules and Standards;
• increased ‘hard shadows’ which can result in significant contrast between lighter and darker areas, causing player discomfort;
• compromised light uniformity both in horizontal and vertical aspects of lighting performance (light uniformity is crucial to enable live broadcasting).

CCT has had its lighting assessments independently reviewed. The review confirms that a four tower option would not meet international broadcasting standards unless the towers were approximately 60 metres high. If there were five towers, lights would need to be at least 58 metres high and, even at that height, field lighting and camera uniformity would still be compromised.