Bluff resident wants to beautify wharf
Bluff resident Cherie Chapman has put her case to the Bluff Community Board to restore the town’s old wharf and return it to the public.
Chapman made a presentation to the board on Monday night when it met at the Bluff Municipal Chambers.
Her concept is to beautify the old wharf and allow public accesss for locals and visitors.
She wanted to see a group of residents lead the beautification project in a similar fashion to how South Alive was making improvements to the South City Mall and surrounds in Invercargill, Chapman said.
The project could be integrated with the Oyster World development, creating a hub in the centre of Bluff, she said.
‘‘They need to lead this because this is a Bluff resource.’’
It would make a great attraction for any cruise ships that stopped in at the port, Chapman said.
Her plan was to present her idea to the board to see whether they supported it, then she would present her idea to South Port and other stakeholders in the town, she said.
Visitors who came to the town now would look out to see a fenced off wharf with signs restricting access, Chapman said.
It would be a better look when Oyster World was opened, that people could look out to a beautified wharf, she said.
Yesterday, Bluff Community Board chairman Raymond Fife said the board looked positively on the ideas Chapman presented.
The next step would be to consider the ideas further and to talk to South Port, because it owned the wharf, he said.
South Port chief executive Mark O’Connor said the west end of town wharf and the finger pier berths were two distinct pieces of infrastructure that needed to be addressed separately.
The east end of the town wharf would continue to operate as the petroleum import facility for the region and would be the subject of a significant upgrade within the next 12 months, O’Connor said.
South Port has had discussions with one regional party in relation to potential use of the west end of the town wharf, and the company was open to exploring practical and sensible opportunities that protect the future utilisation of the asset.
A working group consisting of berth holders and South Port has been operating for several months to explore options for the finger pier berths with the aim of having an outcome on future direction within the next two months, O’Connor said.