Call to upgrade truck park

Improvements sought before roadside ban

Picton’s truck park needs an upgrade before the Marlborough District Council can look at banning truckies from parking on Picton roads, councillors have heard.

The Picton truck park was created on an old rugby pitch after the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake damaged State Highway 1. Truckies diverted via St Arnaud, and because they were arriving in Picton out of sync with the ferry timetable, they were parking up on Picton’s streets and irritating residents.

However, there had been issues getting truckies to actually use the truck park, which Port Marlborough took over in April 2019.

At a full council long-term plan meeting on February 26, assets and services manager Richard Coningham said the council should terminate Port Marlborough’s lease of the council property, and build a toilet and shower block on the site for truckies to use during overnight stays.

“We’ve had quite a lot of discussions around truck parking in Picton over the years,” Coningham said.

“We're at a stage now where if we want to start reviewing and looking at a parking bylaw to restrict trucks from parking on the roads, we actually need to offer an alternative for the trucks. Somewhere to go.”

He said the type of facility needed was used by a number of truck parks around the country.

“They have electronic scanning technology, so that the truck companies are actually paying for it, rather than the truck drivers ... which then gets a lot more buy in for truck drivers to use these facilities moving forward.”

A report prepared by Coningham for the meeting said $209,500 would be needed from the council’s parking reserve account to pay Port Marlborough for the termination of the lease.

Of this, $112,000 was owed for improvements, and $97,500 for the early termination of the lease.

The cost of upgrades such as the toilet block and swipe cards was $400,000, and was also suggested to come from the same parking reserve.

This was subject to approval, and would go out to consultation through the council’s 2024-34 long-term plan.

Staff at the council had been in contact with representatives of Transporting New Zealand, the representative body for road freight transport in NZ, to find out what truckers needed in terms of suitable truck park areas.

Transporting New Zealand said the Riverlands Truck Stop was the only place that offered suitable facilities in a practical sense.

But through “no fault of Riverlands truck stop”, it did not seem to be easing congestion in Picton.

The truck stop was about 35 minutes from the Picton port.

“There is a high degree of certainty that routinely, trucks and cars will need somewhere in close proximity to the terminal to park, and require the use of public convenience amenities.

“Therefore, such amenities should be provided for as a matter of course and having an alternative inherently provides greater resilience.”

Marlborough Sounds ward councillor Ben Minehan asked where truckies were expected to eat, because other truck stops often had options for food.

“I'm just thinking to make the truck park more attractive,” Minehan said.

Coningham said according to their discussions with Transporting New Zealand, the main thing that was needed was the toilet and shower block.

“Most of the truckies are happy to walk the 200m to 300m to get something to eat.”

Marlborough mayor Nadine Taylor joked Coningham’s answer was “very accurate” but also “very boring”.

The Picton-based mayor said Picton Pizza and Kebabs did deliveries.

“Best falafel kebab you'll ever get, and my husband says best lamb kebab you'll ever get,” she said.

STUFF Trucks often line Picton’s streets as they wait to board the ferry.