Port Tarakohe’s commercial future
Some of the participants in last Monday’s strategic planning exercise. Photo: Neil Wilson
Council is receiving commendations for its inclusive approach to strategic planning for Port Tarakohe.
There was also an encouraging amount of agreement at last Monday’s meeting attended by people with an interest in the development of the port and its surrounding area. These included iwi representatives as well as those with industrial, recreational, environmental, management and local governance concerns.
The meeting set out some of the parameters for the development of the port area. Extensions to the marina space, changes to the wharf space, further reclamation and the development of light industrial and commercial enterprises were all canvassed. There was a lot of consensus, and some participants expressed surprise at this, crediting the approach taken by council for the absence of discord.
“This looks like a very encouraging approach from council,” said incoming community board member, Mik Symmons. “This level of consultation and willingness to take people along is likely to produce good results.”
Joan and Bob Butts are directors of Port Tarakohe Limited, the company that owns the Tarakohe quarry, 85 hectares of surrounding land, and some of the stretch of road between Pohara and the wharf.
They instigated the meeting with what Mr Butts describes as “the complete co-operation of Mayor Kempthorne and council CEO Paul Wylie”.
Mr and Mrs Butts are enthusiastic about the way the meeting addressed the issues of development at Tarakohe. They say that doing nothing is not an option.
“It was good to see the council listening to the community instead of the community being made to listen to the council,” said Mrs Butts.
“I was heartened by what Councillor Higgins, the chair of the TDC enterprises subcommittee, said about the intention of the council to move the running of the port into a business unit,” said Mr Butts. “It’s been an underperforming asset and it will be good to get it out of political control so that sound commercial decisions can be made.”
At the meeting, Mr Butts said that, with development, he believed the port would “play a huge part in turning things around for the Bay.”
“It will take some astute looking at options, including the green options. The responsibilities to the environment walk hand-in-hand with the money. There are exciting opportunities to invest and form new partnerships with iwi and private capital investment, for example. It could create huge wealth.”
Mayor Richard Kempthorne also said that he was pleased with the amount of agreement that came out of the meeting.
He explained that council is constrained by its own resources in that there were many more developments it wanted to pursue than it could process through its own departments, but he was hopeful, he said.
“It’s the job of the council’s staff to find a way to put these ideas into action.”
In the next part of the process all the participants—and those who were invited but were unable to attend—will be sent a summary of the ideas presented on the day. In November or December there will be a further meeting and then council planners will begin the work necessary to make development possible.
Neil Wilson
