Empty lot near Christchurch Hospital sits idle despite 2000 staff waiting for parks
Tuesday, 7 July 2026
A block of land big enough for 200 cars is sitting empty, just metres from Christchurch Hospital as 2000 staff wait for parks.
Health New Zealand received consent from the Christchurch City Council on April 16 to turn 2.2 hectares of land between St Asaph, Tuam and Antigua streets into a car park for staff.
The land used to have the hospital’s boiler house on it and plans show it could accommodate 200 car parks.
Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger expressed concern at a council meeting on July 1 that the land had yet to be turned into a car park. He was responding to comments from a member of the public about the safety of hospital staff walking to cars at night.
Mauger said the council hurried the consent through and all Health New Zealand had to do was lay some asphalt to ensure stones do not go over the footpath.
He said he had chased up the issue with a Health New Zealand manager at the hospital but had not heard back.
“The ball is totally in their court. That is the absolute perfect place to help solve the problem. We are on it and we’ve done our bit and handed them the resource consent and said ‘here, go and do it’, and they haven’t done it.”
Health New Zealand submitted its application in September.
The consent application said the land would provide 24-hour car parking for staff and potentially some long-term outpatients.
Parking would not be available for members of the general public and the car park would operate on a permit basis.
Health New Zealand said there was an unmet demand for staff parking with a waiting list of more than 2000 staff seeking parking permits for 24/7 access.
Land and property head Monique Fouwler said they had secured the temporary five‑year resource consent to use the Antigua St site behind the laboratories as a staff car park, “while longer‑term options are assessed”.
“We are currently progressing funding approval to develop the site,” she said.
Health NZ didn’t answer further questions on when this was scheduled to happen, what work needed to be done before the land could be turned into parking, and which staff would have access to it.
New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) delegate Michelle Harvey said for nursing staff it was a frustrating situation.
“It’s still pretty dire in the fact we do have a staff car parking building, but for [new] staff starting, it’s a four-to-five year wait list to get access to even afternoon parking for our nurses.”
While she said Christchurch Hospital’s location was ideal in many ways, student nurses and other staff were still frequently having to walk through parts of Hagley Park alone at night to get to their vehicles, even with options like the staff shuttle on offer.
There had been instances where staff had to deal with intoxicated partygoers, or people urinating in bushes, “which is not appropriate either when you're leaving your workplace”.
Staff hadn’t received any communications or updates recently about parking, she said.
“It's often one thing that's overlooked or if people aren't being the squeaky wheel, it just doesn't get spoken about.”
Harvey said she hadn’t been aware Health NZ had been granted consent to turn the empty lot into parking.
“If we were to have the option of another 200 car parks … it would clear a lot of that wait list, and would make it safer for staff because it is nearby. You've got the bulk [of] people moving that way. So the safety aspect would be much improved.”
In July last year, Mauger supported a bid to provide free parking for hospital staff overnight at the nearby Parakiore Recreation and Sport Centre, which has 450 car parks.
Recreation, sports and events head Nigel Cox said council staff and the car parking management provider met with Health New Zealand representatives again on June 29.
“We have an agreed way forward and will formalise this to the council this month.”