Epic battle over historic tunnels set to continue

By Erin Hogan

Bill Reid has spent more than two frustrating decades fighting to get the Albert Park tunnels opened to the public.

Dug over eight months during 1942, the tunnels were designed to house 22,000 people in the event of an air raid over the central city in World War II.

Almost 3500m – or just over two miles – of tunnels run underneath the park. They were filled with clay bricks and sealed off in February 1946.

In September 2005, Glen Eden resident Reid signed an agreement with Auckland City Council allowing him to investigate and provide a proposal outlining future possible uses of the tunnels.

Reid believes this agreement allows him exclusive long-term rights to open these tunnels.

But George Farrant, chief heritage adviser at the council, says the agreement only gives Reid the right to investigate the feasibility of using the tunnels for commercial purposes.

This agreement expired in March this year and Reid recently delivered a letter to the council claiming intellectual property rights over the plans and concepts he presented.

In 2001, Judith Tizard, who was Minister assisting the Prime Minister on Auckland issues, helped to put through the Auckland Improvement Trust Amendment Act which would allow the Auckland City Council to develop the tunnel complex.

Tizard says she supported Reid at the time, but it is now a local issue for the council to deal with.

If Reid can get backing to open the tunnels, he plans a bus route from the top of Victoria St through to Parnell.

He would also include pedestrian access to Auckland University by escalator.

Farrant is concerned that the tunnels may not be stable and he says many passages outside the main tunnel are barely walkable.

The council had to stabilise ventilation shafts that feed the tunnel system after two bad cases of subsidence in 2005.

Farrant says it is unlikely the tunnels will be opened to the public but the best chance would be investigating the tunnel entrance near the Auckland Art Gallery.

“It is remote at this stage. There could be a limited section of the tunnels opened up.

“The best possible access way would be the entrance by the art gallery,” says Farrant.

Scott Pilkington, of Auckland University, has written two studies on the tunnels and would love to see them open to the public.

“I sincerely believe that there is, in fact, a unique ecosystem in there. We don’t know very much about how ecosystems develop in man-made cave-like structures and this could be an opportunity to gain some insight.”

Pilkington says the tunnels could also provide keys to the past, with the possibility of material left behind by construction workers.

“I expect that there will be rubbish in the tunnels left by workers during the decommissioning stage,” he says.

“This would would render the tunnels like a giant midden heap and could potentially give us quite a lot of insight.”