Tourist attractions or industrial sites? The future rules for West Coast ports have come under close scrutiny this week from the Tai o Poutini Plan Committee.
Photo: RNZ / Tracy Neal
Mayors, chairs, councillors and iwi are gradually working their way through every section of the Westland, Grey and Buller district plans, to come up with a revised document that rolls them into one.
The committee this week tackled performance standards for ports at Westport and Greymouth - and protecting the rights of port users emerged as their top priority.
Principal planner Lois Easton presented an update on the technical work her team had done to define port zones and draft rules for their operation.
Port zones were intended to encompass an area needed to support port functions, including cargo handling, fishing fleet operations, towage, pilotage, storage and maintenance, Easton said.
West Coast ports were also vital transport links for the region and Greymouth also had fuel storage, the only slipway, and maintenance facilities between Nelson and Bluff.
Both ports were also the subject of revitalisation initiatives aimed at supporting their town centres and land around the ports was important to these efforts, she noted.
There was potential to expand public access to the ports, provided that did not affect their function.
"Worldwide and in New Zealand, port areas have become significant features for the enjoyment of locals and visitors alike," she said.
"Examples of where ports have successfully integrated with improved visitor access can be found at places such as Napier, Gisborne, Whangārei, Nelson, Wellington and New Plymouth ... work is under way looking at how tourism-based upgrades can be developed to attract more visitors to Westport."
However, creating "reverse sensitivity" - where newcomers attracted to an area start objecting to the activities of pre-existing industries - was to be avoided, Easton said.
"Ports can be noisy, dusty and smelly places and also can operate at night times. While good environmental standards are required, there are some types of activities which are less compatible with their function -- particularly residential development."
Councillors were quick to pounce on the possible risks of allowing development near ports.
A proposed rule banning any blasting or vibration outside of 8am to 6pm weekdays and 9am to 4pm weekends and public holidays, would hurt the fishing industry, Councillor Anton Becker said.
"Fishing vessels need to get up on the slipway, get fixed up and get back out there fishing as fast as they can. If we restrict their time for maintenance it could take three of four days to get back into operation."
Westland Mayor Bruce Smith said the plan needed flexibility.
"Ports should be a 24-hour operation. I'm against restrictions. There's not a built up area around the Greymouth port; it's tides that govern life at a port, not plans."
Buller Mayor Jamie Cleine was in favour of allowing some other types of development around a port.
"We don't know the future ... parts of the Westport zone might not be always used for port operations; there could be apartments, but (under proposed rules) that would not be allowed."
West Coast Regional Council chair Allan Birchfield said all options should be kept open for the ports.
"One day we might need to bring our fuel in that way. Think of Lyttelton - the latte set moved in there and didn't want the port. They've given the port huge problems trying to expand. Leave them as industrial zones for the benefit of everybody."
The question of how to zone the tiny port at Jackson Bay has given the planners pause for thought.
"Because the port at Jackson Bay is so small, and the area is currently zoned coastal settlement zone, staff are still considering their final zoning recommendations for this area," Easton said.
Westland councillor Latham Martin said although the port was small it was important to the economy of the area, and the council was redeveloping the wharf there.
Easton said the planners were considering a sub-zone or precinct status for Jackson Bay.
Iwi representative Paul Madgwick warned that restrictions on port activities at Jackson Bay could change the settlement's character.
"It could just become another playground for guppies from Central Otago to come over on the weekends and plunder our kaimoana and inflate real estate values."
Houses at nearby Hannahs Clearing, once a sawmilling village, were fetching unbelievable prices and Jackson Bay could be seized on as the next place ripe for the picking for holiday baches, he said.
"Then suddenly our port becomes secondary and you get all those issues of reverse sensitivity."
*Disclosure: Paul Madgwick is the editor of the Greymouth Star, which employs the West Coast LDR. He took no part in the commissioning, writing or editing of this LDR story.
Local Democracy Reporting is a public interest news service supported by RNZ, the News Publishers' Association and NZ On Air.
