Newfield Park has moved a step closer to losing its reserve status after an Invercargill City Council hearings panel recommended revocation, even though most people who made submissions wanted the park kept as it is.

The same panel recommended against selling the JG Ward Reserve and part of 38 Suir Street in Bluff, where opposition to a sale was strong.

The panel was chaired by Cr Trish Boyle and included Cr Andrea de Vries and Bluff Community Board member Jo Eruera. Cr Lisa Tou-McNaughton opposed the Newfield Park recommendation.

Public submissions ran from 3 July to 7 August. Submitters were asked whether the park's reserve status should be revoked in full, revoked in part or left unchanged, and whether the Bluff land should be sold. Oral submissions were heard last month and the panel reconvened last week to make its decisions.

Numbers ran the other way

Of 60 submissions on Newfield Park, 33 wanted the reserve status to remain, 23 preferred revoking part of the land and four supported full revocation.

De Vries said full revocation made more sense than subdividing the land, because of the significant costs she understood the council would otherwise have to carry. Boyle initially favoured partial revocation but shifted to supporting full revocation. "The city council has a lot of green spaces and that we can perhaps free up some of those," she said.

Invercargill property developer Caleb Honiss told the hearing that partial revocation was not workable because there would be no proper road access to the remaining land.

Tou-McNaughton argued the land should only be released if it would actually attract a developer. She said residents used the park, and the nearest alternative, Elizabeth Park, was some distance away.

Newfield Park, a recreation reserve in Newfield, was identified during the council's long-term plan process as a potential site for disposal. Because it is a recreation reserve, any sale would require formal revocation of its status, approval from the Minister of Conservation, and a right-of-first-refusal process under the Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998.

Bluff reserve stays

On the Bluff land, 22 submitters responded: 12 supported a sale and 10 were opposed. Despite that narrow margin, three of the four panel members agreed the reserve and the Suir Street land should not be sold. Boyle opposed that position.

Eruera said submitters had made some good points, and that the people she had spoken with in Bluff were "opposed to the sale vehemently".

The panel's recommendations now go to the council's community and regulatory committee, which will in turn make recommendations to a full council meeting. Any revocation would ultimately need the Minister of Conservation's sign-off.