'Bomb site' fate remains up in the air

Trust House says there are no plans for the site of the long-awaited Featherston supermarket to be sold, but it is still considering a range of options for development.

Featherston Community Board chairman Garry Thomas said he was told "unofficially" that Trust House planned to landscape and then sell the Fitzherbert St site.

But chief executive Bernard Teahan has denied that and said the conversation was misconstrued.

"There was a Featherston resident who rang our general manager of operations Allan Pollard and asked the question, was that a possibility, and Allan answered it was a possibility in the context of anything is a possibility. But there has been no discussion in this office of that as a possibility."

The main street site was cleared in 2010 to make way for a $7 million supermarket development, but a lengthy resource consent process has led to a rethink of plans, reportedly due to changes in the market.

FreshChoice supermarket in Greytown, which is seeing a high uptake of its $1 weekly bus service from Featherston, opened in July.

Owner operator Chris Ward said up to 16 people were now taking the bus each week, and the business was seeking feedback about a move into home deliveries.

Mr Teahan said the existing Featherston Community Supermarket was on its last legs.

"Yes, it will be upgraded in one form or another, or extended in one form or another.

"There could be a range of changes, to extending the existing building to what's been approved by South Wairarapa District Council."

The organisation will be discussing the possibilities in the new year, said Mr Teahan.

Mr Thomas said the community would be gutted if it was not going to get a supermarket, and that it had been left with an empty site, now dubbed the "Trust House Memorial Rock Garden" by locals.

The Featherston Community Board intends to write to Trust House requesting the site be tidied up.

"We just really want it tidied up, we want something in the middle of town and not just a bomb site. It's just a right shambles."

Mr Teahan said he had not received the request yet, but the site was an improvement on the previous building and the weeds on the site would be sprayed.

"If the work is spraying on a regular basis the answer is yes. If it's landscaping to make it pretty the answer is no."

South Wairarapa Mayor Adrienne Staples said she would be disappointed if the site was sold. "Basically they've clear-felled the town and then left us to it, and I imagine it will be difficult to find someone who would want to develop that site."