In July 2026 Church Property Trustees (CPT) signed an agreement with a potential purchaser for the sale of the tennis court land. Since then, the potential purchaser has done its due diligence on the property. Two issues have emerged. Geotechnical investigations revealed that significant piling would be required to build houses on the land, particularly if they were to be several storeys high. That would be an additional expense for the purchaser. However, CPT and Vestry indicated that this should have been expected. The area in Papanui is well tested and most new buildings have required considerable piling. It would be strange to expect that the tennis court land is firmer than most of the surrounding land. CPT therefore has the negotiating position that the geotechnical requirements should not affect the price significantly.

The other issue noted during due diligence is access to the site. The tennis court land is held in three titles. Two titles have an easement over the part of the driveway that is owned by the neighbours, the third title does not. It only has an easement over the parts of the driveway owned by the Church. There is enough land there for a separate driveway for that title, but that would mean less available land for building. As a result, the potential purchaser would want a significant discount on the purchase price.

CPT is considering negotiating with the neighbours to allow full use of the driveway. The neighbours are not that happy with the development of the tennis courts and would prefer to keep their surroundings quieter. Therefore, it is uncertain whether CPT or the potential purchaser could negotiate a satisfactory deal.

In that case, the purchaser might need to have two separate, parallel driveways, and therefore the price of the land would reduce. CPT is considering all these issues at the moment and is in constant communication with the purchaser, who is still interested, but concerned at the issues that have come to light. CPT and the Parish might have to sell the land for considerably less than initially envisaged.

Unfortunately, when we set out on this process we did not know all the complications that our predecessors have left us with, who after all were preparing for the future when things were done a bit differently.