DCC purchase of Forbury Raceway for $13.5 million was justified by Cr. Benson-Pope and others as necessary to ‘have control’ over a very large piece of Dunedin real estate.

Mayor Radich was keen on the purchase because he believed Forbury should be developed as a flood detention area.

I could never get Mayor Radich or any other Forbury detention advocates to explain why we should spend millions digging a Forbury flood detention area when the ultimate detention area is the Pacific Ocean just a few hundred metres away.

The claim that flood waters would drain into Forbury defies gravity and the significant areas of South Dunedin that are at a lower level than Forbury.

Water run-off from St Clair should be drained to sea by increased drainage capacity to the Pacific at Second Beach, rather than spending millions digging a detention area next door to the Ocean.