Dunedin's Octagon Christmas tree has been illegal for years and the city's Robbie Burns may be bordering on criminality, too.
Both are still believed to be covered by historic restrictions introduced by an obscure ordinance, dating back to 1854, which prohibited buildings or "erections" on reserve land in the Octagon.
However, rather than removing the structures, it was the ordinance's effect itself that was to finally get the boot, Dunedin City Council community life general manager Graeme Hall confirmed yesterday.
Council staff applied to have the Octagon building restrictions lifted in 2003 and finally - after six years - the Reserves and Other Lands Disposal (ROLD) Bill passed its first reading earlier this week.
The Bill aimed to revise 17 historic oversights, errors and omissions relating to land status around New Zealand.
Mr Hall said the changes were needed to iron out the legality of the annual Octagon Christmas tree, Robbie Burns structure and "even a lamppost" that could, in theory, be the subject of a legal challenge.
The tree was assembled on protected reserve land in the lower Octagon each December, while it was believed the statue's supporting structure might encroach on to the protected reserve, despite the statue itself sitting on road reserve not subject to the same protections, he said.
The issue was highlighted in 2002, when council staff decided to remove a temporary stage from the lower Octagon after realising it was technically an illegal structure.
The council applied to have the restrictions lifted the following year, but it had taken until now for the Bill to make its way to Parliament, Mr Hall said.
According to the council's application, building restrictions in the Octagon were introduced with the passing of the Dunedin Public Lands Ordinance 1854, which followed a petition the same year calling for an Episcopal Church to be built on the land.
The then superintendent of Otago, William Cargill, argued against the church proposal, comparing any building on the reserve to building in Moray Place, in Edinburgh, or St James Square, in London.
And the ordinance, once published, allowed only for "a parapet wall and railings, or fence for enclosing the said area, which shall forever remain otherwise an open area".
Mr Hall said the restrictions survived despite the Reserves Act 1977 superseding the old ordinance and the council already having a management plan in place for all city reserves.
