Trust seeks alternative plans

Te Mata Peak Trust chairman Bruno Chambers is seeking council support to improve facilities at the park. Photo / Warren Buckland

Plans for a multi-million dollar Te Mata Peak visitor centre may have been scrapped but the trust behind the idea says it is working on other "exciting initiatives" to rejuvenate the iconic park.

The Te Mata Peak Trust Board announced last month it was abandoning plans for a $4.3 million visitor and education centre at the park after an independent review warned the proposed facility would be a "major financial liability".

Reviewer Dave Bamford found the proposed project "presented significant risks for the trust in the long term".

But having secured a commitment of more than $1.6 million towards the project from local councils, the trust is keen to retain that funding for other initiatives it is now considering.

It met the Hawke's Bay Regional Council last week and won support to have the council's previous $500,000 pledge towards the centre retained while it works on a 10-year management plan.

Trust chairman Bruno Chambers told the council's environment and services committee the trust had taken onboard Mr Bamford's finding that the park was looking a bit "tired" and needed upgrading in some areas.

"That is something we are aware of but we don't want to confine ourselves to that upgrading.

"We're looking at doing some really exciting initiatives up there," he told the councillors.

The development of the new management plan, due to be completed in October, would look at a full range of options including adding toilets and drinking water stations at the park, rejuvenating the summit, redeveloping Peak House, acquiring additional land adding new mountainbike tracks and wheelchair access to the redwood stand.

A new trust board structure would see a full-time manager role created because the demands on the trust had increased significantly in recent years as visitor expectations grew, Mr Chambers said.

The 99.5ha park was gifted to the community by the Chambers family in 1927 and Mr Chambers said that when his father chaired the trust the role was largely confined to supervising weekend periodic detention gangs.

"Now, with the increased usage of the park and the heightened expectations of all the users, what we're trying to deliver is a better experience but it's reached the point where we're struggling to continue the park as it should be serviced."

The park's community committee chairwoman, Katherine Halliday, also said the trust needed to be "resourced to a different level and organised differently".

"The increasing demand on the park is a huge issue and the workload falling on the trust board and a small group of unpaid volunteers is pretty unsustain-able," she said.

Hastings District Council last year committed $875,000 towards the visitor centre while Napier City Council set aside $250,000.

The trust has asked them to follow the regional council's lead and keep that funding available while it finalises its management plan.

Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule and Napier Mayor Bill Dalton said their councils have not yet formally considered the request.