NEWS RELEASE
19 November 2009
 
Campervan park for Wellington’s waterfront
 
Wellington City Councillors have approved the construction of a campervan park on Wellington’s waterfront and asked the Council’s waterfront company to prepare a business case to demonstrate the financial viability of a proposed ice skating rink and temporary tensile fabric structure.
 
Councillors approved the 2009/10 draft Waterfront Development Plan at today’s Strategy and Policy Committee and asked Wellington Waterfront Limited to:
complete the planning and design of a temporary campervan park at Kumutoto (opposite the NZ Post headquarters on Waterloo Quay), prior to construction later this year or early 2010. They also asked Council staff to explore options for a permanent campervan site somewhere in the city.
prepare a business case to demonstrate the financial viability of a proposed ice skating rink at Queens Wharf and tensile fabric structure next to Waitangi Park, and complete the planning and design of these projects.
address design issues and explore how to reduce the estimated $400,000 cost of public toilets at Kumutoto, and review the signage and condition of existing toilet facilities on the waterfront.
 
Last December the Council agreed to defer commercial projects on the waterfront because of current market conditions. This created an opportunity to look at temporary uses of the waterfront, including the campervan park, and ice skating rink. They also agreed to bring the management of the waterfront in-house by July 2010. However they today agreed to review the role of Wellington Waterfront Limited, which manages waterfront projects, in 2012.
 
The Council’s Urban Development Portfolio Leader, Councillor Andy Foster, says the Council received 73 submissions on its draft Waterfront Development Plan, which outlined details of the proposals. “Of these 50 supported the idea of a campervan park, 45 said Wellington Waterfront Limited should continue to manage waterfront projects, 36 were in favour of the Kumutoto toilets but some felt the cost should be reduced, and 38 supported the ice skating rink and the temporary tensile structure but raised concerns over the cost of both projects.
 
“The waterfront is one of the city’s greatest assets and that is reflected by public interest in what happens there. The public have rightly asked whether an ice skating rink should be funded by the Council in the current economic climate and whether Waitangi Park is the right place for a tensile fabric structure and if its benefits outweigh the cost of keeping it maintained, so we have asked the waterfront company to go away and prepare a business case to prove the viability of these projects.”
 
ends
 
 

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