Athletics Canterbury, having canvassed the members of the sport, identified Burnside Park as the preferred site for the replacement of the Track at QEII. A process was undertaken to bring together a case for presentation to the full Christchurch City Council. This covered the Demographics of the sport, Transport considerations, Accommodation considerations,future activity opportunities for the sport, Land requirements and its overall fit with the strategy for Canterbury Athletics in the region. The Mayor initially supported this case with the announcement of the track at Burnside Park being one of the 'Big 10' projects which would be priorities for the council over the next 12 months. Subsequent to this the Council overruled the wishes of the Mayor and in addition to delaying the funding of the facility by 12 months also specifically removed Burnside Park as the preferred site. This was without any further communication with our sport. This petition is to ask the council to reinstate Burnside Park as the preferred site and to expedite the process to allow the track replacement to occur in time for the 2013-14 summer season.

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