Big trade-offs might be needed for new Auckland port vision

Some contentious trade-offs could be needed to achieve the next stages of a new public Auckland waterfront, revealed by mayor Wayne Brown.

Brown said more land used by the port company,could become public with two to five years, but Ports of Auckland said that would require a previously contentious extension of Bledisloe Wharf.

The mayor has released one part of three pieces of work looking at the future of the city’s 85.1ha port land – a vision of what could be built once the council-owned port had partly or completely relocated.

The work by the council’s development arm Eke Panuku includes a water’s edge “beach” and pool, an amphitheatre for performances, but not a stadium, and new cultural facilities.

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“There is a pathway to return a portion of land back to public use within the next 2 to 5 years without undermining the Port operation, while delivering significant wellbeing benefits for Aucklanders,” said Brown in a statement, accompanied by an image from the vision report.

Stage one of a progressive shrinking of the port operation would expand publicly-available space at Queens Wharf, to adjacent Captain Cook and Marsden Wharves.

Brown said the big Bledisloe Wharf – one of the biggest areas of port operation could “follow in the not too distant future”.

However, shortly after the mayor went public, Ports of Auckland pointed out what it would require, to enable that to happen.

“This is reliant on the ability to maintain port operations through investment on Bledisloe Wharf such as completing the northern berth and investing in additional cargo handling facilities,” said the chief executive Roger Gray.

Ports of Auckland’s past plans to add berths along the northern, harbour face of Bledisloe were dropped in 2015, in the face of opposition by the mayor Phil Goff, and public groups, to further encroachment into the Waitematā harbour.

The trade-off is just one sign of the big issues facing the mayor’s ambition for the country’s biggest import port, to relocate elsewhere, in the longer term.

Two more important reports remain confidential and are still being considered by councillors – the cost and feasibility of the port company reducing the space it occupies, and the potential for commercial port operators to take over the running of the port.

Brown said he was keeping an “open mind” about any potential repurposing of the Ports of Auckland.

“As far as the port operation goes, we are just following on from the work commenced by the previous mayor and council and I think it is worthy of consideration.”

He said that the council was canvassing the views of the port operators and its investors on “potential approaches to deliver on ownership objectives”. The public will also get its say.

Brown has previously told the council-owned Ports of Auckland he wants vehicle imports shifted away from the city in the “short term”.

In March, he commissioned the review of future options for the council-owned port, including the possible sale of its operation.

It was to be a three part review that would investigate what interest there was from potential buyers of the port business, and whether the port could operate with a reduced footprint.

The third part was to look at how the land could be used if it was vacated by the port company.