New logistics centre boosts local economy
One of New Zealand’s largest wine and glass storage facilities has been opened at Port Nelson, boosting the region’s ‘‘very strong growth story’’.
The multimillion-dollar Patterson Logistics Centre, named after the late Port Nelson chairman Nick Patterson, was opened on time and on budget by Minister of Economic Development and Transport Simon Bridges on Tuesday.
It will serve as the Nelson-based logistics hub of QuayConnect, the port’s Nelson-Marlborough integrated warehousing, transport, and logistics service, for the transfer of goods the wine industry needs to package and bottle its products.
Quay Connect was established 12 months ago in partnership with Central Express Ltd.
Key users of the warehouse include bottling and warehousing firm WineWorks as well as glass bottle manufacturer Owens-Illinois.
The 13,000m2 storage facility, the first major building project of a $32 million redevelopment plan at the port, was dedicated to Patterson.
Stage two of the infrastructure development is the construction of an approximately 9,000m2 facility south of the new building, increasing capacity to a total of 32,000 pallets – and a total of 22,000m2 – of primarily wine and glass.
Calder Stewart will begin construction of this second facility in June for completion by the end of this year.
(The Nelson Mail, Wednesday, February 22nd, 2017)
More troubled waters loom for a murky Nelson recreation pond with a recommendation to spend $1.2 million fixing it.
Debate over the weed-infested Modellers Pond in the beachfront suburb of Tahunanui has ebbed and flowed for years, dividing city councillors and prompting many proposed solutions, all with big price tags.
The recommendation includes removing the formal expectation for the Nelson Society of Modellers, which uses the pond, to pay half the estimated $1.2m.
The council initially agreed to pay half, provided the society raised the other $600,000 to deal with weeds, algae and water quality issues that have plagued the pond for years, often making it unusable for modellers. The proposed solution would involve putting a concrete liner in the bottom and providing regular flushing of sea water through it.
The society said without the council progressing a resource consent application, it had been unable to provide necessary documentation to apply for between $250,000 and $300,000 available from the Lottery Grants Board.
The question over the future of the pond has been before the council for 13 years and was first tabled in 2004. Numerous reports have been produced giving various recommendations about how best to deal with the pond.
The sport and recreation committee recommended the preferred $1.2m option of modifying the pond, and has noted ‘‘contributions pledged to date’’ by the Nelson Society of Modellers.
The council will vote on the committee’s recommendation at the first full council meeting on March 23.
(The Nelson Mail, Wednesday, February 22nd, 2017)
A Golden Bay iwi wants the Government to step in and protect the aquifer that feeds the country’s largest freshwater springs.
Ngati Tama ki Te Waipounamu has has applied directly to the Environment Minister for an unprecedented water conservation order for the aquifer that feeds Te Waikoropupu Springs in Golden Bay.
The springs are the largest cold water springs in the Southern Hemisphere and contain some of the clearest waters ever measured on earth.
Ngati Tama, and Golden Bay resident Andrew Yiull, are using ‘‘Water Conservation Order’’ provisions under the Resource Management Act to seek central Government protection of the aquifer.
The lack of water allocation rules across Takaka catchments has been one of the main issues facing a group of Golden Bay residents working to protect and manage its waterways.
The 11 members of the Takaka Freshwater Land Advisory Group (Flag) have proposed a water allocation regime based on cultural, spiritual, environmental and supply needs and use.
Tasman District Council communications advisor Chris Choat said the relationship was between central Government and Ngati Tama. ‘‘We haven’t seen the application or what our role would be, so it is too early to speculate what the implications could be for the council.’’
Choat said the judicial review related to the council’s approval of an extension to a springs consent for two other iwi.
(The Nelson Mail, Thursday, February 23rd, 2017)
Retirement operator Summerset Group’s expansion is accelerating across New Zealand, with a range of new projects including a major $100 million retirement village scheduled to be built near Saxton Field in Stoke.
The village was approved by Nelson City Council as a Special Housing Area against the advice of council staff last year.
The gated community will have 220 homes, 64 assisted living suites and a rest home. It will be twice the size of Stoke’s Summerset in the Sun - the largest of the group’s 21 villages nationwide which it said had also been the fastest to sell.
Council staff did not support the proposal as a SHA due to the lack of infrastructure on the land which has a rural zoning.
The new development will be the latest in a long line of retirement villages in the Nelson region, including Stoke’s Ernest Rutherford, Richmond’s Oakwoods Lifecare, Nelson’s Green Gables Lifestyle Care and Village and a $125m village yet to be constructed on Princes Dr.
There is nothing stronger in the world
than gentleness.
Han Suyin