The Awatea St Stadium may wake the nation up to the fact local government is too powerful, Dr Rob Hamlin, of the business school at the University of Otago says.
Addressing a meeting of about 200 people in Dunedin last night, organised by the Stop the Stadium group, he said the stadium issue showed it was worth paying attention to local government politics.
Otago regional councillor Gerry Eckhoff also referred to the power of local government, criticising the Local Government Amendment Act of 2002 which, he said, had allowed councils to be prey to influential interest groups.
There were good reasons why councils should be compelled to "stick to their knitting", he said.
President of Stop the Stadium Bev Butler urged people not to think it was too late to prevent the stadium proceeding.
She told the meeting that membership of the campaign group was gathering momentum.
Yesterday, between 1am and 7pm, membership had risen by 40 to 360.
Forms from people who joined at the meeting last night had not been processed.
Ms Butler said she was pleased with the turnout to the meeting.
She acknowledged that those present were predominantly in the grey-haired age group and that the group might need to work at getting more support from younger people, although she said the group did have support from students.
Stop the Stadium committee member Elizabeth Kerr outlined how those interested could make submissions about district plan changes necessary for the project to go ahead.
Stop the Stadium will be making a submission.
The group was prepared to pursue the matter through the appeal process if necessary, she said.
A protest march is also planned for Saturday, August 2, from the Dental School to the Octagon.
The meeting, which lasted more than two hours, voted unanimously to oppose putting public money into the stadium.
