Two large wharf extensions into the Waitemata harbour for port use have been approved by Auckland Council without the public or councillors being notified.
According to NZ Herald super city reporter Bernard Orsman, planning commissioners approved the additions on the grounds they were positive and had no adverse impact.
Ports of Auckland applied for extensions to the end of Bledisloe Wharf – 100m beyond the left-hand side and 130m beyond the right hand side. They are each 33m wide.
The development comes as 20 councillors, two statutory moray board members, and Mayor Len Brown meet to to decide if more seabed should be reclaimed for port use.
Councillor Chris Darby who is one of five opposed to further reclamation says the wharf extensions has ‘cunning’ written all over the applications and consent.
Darby says its a sly way of using the more permissive rules for wharf extensions to make the consenting of reclamation more likely.
Council chief planning officer Dr Roger Blakeley told The Herald the applications were for wharf extensions or piled structures, not the sensitive issue of reclamation, and he says the councillors and the public were not told about the applications.
The full council which will meet as the Auckland development committee will today be asked to consider two issues that could lead to further reclamation.
The first is to endorse a “central wharves strategy” that includes a new cruise ship terminal on the Captain Cook Wharf, which is currently where imported new and used vehicles are currently disembarked from large car carrier ships.
To compensate for the loss of the wharf space at Captain Cook, the port company wants to reclaim 3 hectares of seabed at the northern end of Bledisloe Wharf.
The second issue, which will be held in secret, is for the council to decide its position for mediation on zoning in the port precinct.
It is under pressure to make coming a ‘discretionary’ activity which would allow the port company to apply for resource consent for further reclamation.
The Auckland councillors are also being asked to permit the port company to reclaim another 20 hectares of harbour every ten years.
