Shedding light on plans for Coxs Bay Reserve

Westmere residents are invited to find out more about proposals for new sports' field lighting at Coxs Bay Reserve at two upcoming information sessions.

Auckland City Council is proposing to replace the existing sports' field lights at Coxs Bay Reserve because they are not of an adequate standard for night-time training.

The proposal would see the existing lights around sports field three removed and replaced with six new 16.5m-tall lights around sports field two.

These more modern lights will enable greater control, reducing light spill beyond the boundaries of the park.

The new lights would normally operate in the winter months between 1 April and 31 August and would not be used later than 10pm.

During the summer months, some of the lights would be stored in an upright position in the southwest of the park.

The council's parks advisor for active recreation, Mike Gallagher, says the new lights should offer improvements for both users of the park and neighbours.

"The aim is to improve conditions for night-time training, while reducing glare for neighbouring properties," Mr Gallagher says

"We believe it's a win-win situation, but I'd urge those with an interest to attend the upcoming information sessions and find out more about what's proposed."

Details for the two information sessions are as follows:

Thursday, 29 November, 6pm to 8pm, Coxs Bay Pavilion, Coxs Bay Reserve
Sunday, 2 December, 11am to 1pm, Coxs Bay Pavilion, Coxs Bay Reserve
Mr Gallagher says the council expects to lodge a resource consent application for the new lights before the end of the year. If consent is granted, installation would probably begin in winter 2008.