Port Taranaki's business expansion plans turning surrounding area into 'wasteland', says former dock worker.

Where Port Taranaki sees room for expansion, Shane Parker sees a wasteland of what used to be.

Stuff Article, written by Stephanie Ockhuysen, Oct 06 2020

There were baches along Ngāmotu Beach, a fish and chip shop, a dairy, a pub, a Māori arts and crafts centre, and a thriving bowling club where port workers would go and play while looking out over the ocean.

Now, land sits empty where these buildings once stood.

Port Taranaki, solely owned by Taranaki Regional Council, said much of the empty land was still available for public use and had been bought for future development opportunities.

Parker, who was raised in Spotswood and worked at Port Taranaki for 33 years as a stevedore, a person who loads and unloads ships, sees not opportunity, but an opportunity lost.

The port has decimated a once thriving area, he said, and its recent opposition to the development of the Fonterra cool stores was the final straw. He had to speak out.

“From the port gates they've bought the power station, they’ve bought where the old pub was, they own all the way to Paritutu, they've bought all those properties and never done anything with them.”

Parker said when the port evicted the bowling club they said it was for log storage, however the site sits empty.

In 2008 the Port Fish Shop and neighbouring Double Gee Dairy on Breakwater Rd were forced to close after the port decided it wanted the land for development.

This site sits empty too.

“They're used to be a fish and chip shop there, there used to be a dairy there, they’ve got rid of them all and just turned it into a wasteland and now they want to oppose the one development that has the potential to improve the area, I just don't get it,” Parker said.

In an emailed statement Port Taranaki chief executive Guy Roper said many sections of port-owned land were leased to businesses, but held onto as a strategic advantage for potential future development.

There was some “green space”, he said but it was regularly used for public events such as parking and triathlons.

The recent storage of the wind farm blades at the Eastern Reclamation land at Ngamotu Beach was also an example of how port land could be used, Roper said.

“Having land available in the vicinity of the port for customers/potential customers to hold or store cargo, or establish sites for new operations or to support operations, is a strategic advantage Port Taranaki actively looks to build on.”

Developers were last month denied resource consent for a project to turn the former Fonterra cool stores in Moturoa into a residential and business hub.

The consent was turned down in part due to potential and actual adverse effects of noise from Port Taranaki activities, proximity to hazardous facilities and the associated risk, and not being consistent with the Operative New Plymouth District Plan and the relevant part of the Resource Management Act.

The decision is the subject of an appeal by developers Seaport Land Company.

Roper said as the port had 15 working days to make a submission to the appeal it would be inappropriate to comment on it.

At a resource consent hearing in July he said the development would create generations of problems for the company.

The project has significant support among Moturoa businesses and a significant majority of submissions on the proposal were also in support.

“If you close your eyes and imagine what it could be like with apartments and cafes and little shops and being able to sit up there and watch the kids yachting and the port it would be an incredible asset and it's being funded by a private enterprise,” Parker said.