Calls for council to buy historic racecourse in ‘once-in-a-generation’ opportunity

Monday, 6 April 2026

Concerned residents want Auckland Council to buy Avondale Racecourse lest a potential sale results in the loss of green space.

Racing at the 138-year-old racecourse is due to end in July, with New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR) consolidating racing in Auckland at Ellerslie and Pukekohe.

The Avondale Jockey Club owns the 35-hectare site, with the inner sports fields leased to Auckland Council for community sport, including rugby, football, and cricket.

The racecourse is also home to the popular Avondale Markets, which have drawn thousands every Sunday since opening in the 1970s.

However, with the land likely to be sold when racing finishes, concerns have emerged in the local community over whether some form of green space, or indeed the markets, will be retained in any future development of the site.

As previously reported by Stuff, NZTR is going through a land transfer process for the racecourse with the Avondale Jockey Club.

The jockey club had also previously put forward a submission to council to get the land rezoned to allow for the building of terraced housing and apartment buildings.

A decision on the future of the racecourse, which has a CV of just under $80m, has yet to be made, but that has not stopped the Avondale community from lobbying to ensure some form of green space is part of any plans for the site.

Lobbying shifted up a gear on March 25 with the Whau Local Board putting forward a notice of motion calling on Auckland Council’s governing body to buy the land so it can be retained as a public asset.

In the notice, which was passed unanimously, the board recommended that Auckland Council “must secure” the racecourse site to “future-proof open space requirements” for west Auckland.

They called the acquisition of the racecourse a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity and requested that the governing body agree to allocate funding in the next annual budget to purchase the entire site to secure the open space.

The board also requested that council direct staff to “proactively seek discussions” with NZTR and Avondale Jockey Club over the future of the racecourse land, which they said plays a “critical” role in Auckland’s sports field network.

The local board’s position has the backing of the Avondale Business Association, which told Stuff a move to buy the land was an “investment in economic resilience”.

Association chair Marcus Amosa said they “strongly support” the notice of motion, calling it a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to secure critical infrastructure” in Avondale.

“High-quality open space is not a nice-to-have, it is core infrastructure that underpins a functioning, attractive and economically active town centre,” he said.

Amosa added that the racecourse is already a “significant multi-use asset” that supports sports, markets, and community activity.

“Securing it in public ownership provides certainty and opens the door for integrated planning that aligns open space, housing growth and town centre development in a coordinated way,” he said.

In a statement, Auckland Council said “it wouldn’t be appropriate” to comment before the governing body has considered the notice of motion; however, Mayor Wayne Brown was a little more forthcoming.

“We will have a discussion about this and I've been approached by a number of people, about a number of options, but we are interested in preserving some green space,” he told Stuff.

Brown said the possibility of buying the racecourse was a “long way down the track”, adding that clarity from the racing industry had yet to emerge.

NZTR did not respond to questions Stuff put to them about the idea. A spokesperson said they were “in good faith negotiations with Avondale Jockey Club” and had “no further comment at this time”.

They previously told Stuff that no decision had been made on the future of the markets and green space on the racecourse site.

“The focus at this stage is on agreeing a transfer agreement. Nothing has been agreed or discounted at this stage,” a spokesperson said in February last year.

Avondale Jockey Club said a newly formed committee has been “positively engaging” with its membership, stakeholders and racing industry representatives on the future of the racecourse.

Standing President of the club, Andrew Skinner, told Stuff that the future of the racecourse has generated “positive robust discussion” and that in time the club will be able to release details of the outcomes going forward.

The jockey club had previously told Stuff they shared the community's concerns about the potential loss of green space and supported retaining some of the land for sports and recreation.

Avondale has seen an intensification injection in recent years, with multiple new apartment buildings built in the suburb.