Harbour island idea floated for debate

Building an island in Waitemata Harbour for a public park and creating a new town basin are being put forward by the promotional group Heart of the City to spark debate on revamping the Auckland waterfront.

The island would sit off the end of the tank farm (Wynyard Wharf) and be linked by an architectural bridge, and a town basin would be built at Captain Cook and Marsden wharves with a large convention centre and a new berth for cruise ships.

Another idea is to expand the National Maritime Museum on Hobson Wharf into the shape of a migration canoe to signify Auckland's marine heritage.

Heart of the City chief executive Alex Swney said the latest draft vision on the waterfront was a rerun of reports going back to 1989 and contained nothing expansive or creative.

Interest groups had vented their frustration at the "broad-based" and "weak" draft vision and were eager to get down to detail, he said.

Heart of the City wanted to draw a line from Marsden Wharf to the east for Ports of Auckland. To the centre and west would be the "people's waterfront", including Queen's Wharf, which at present is used for importing bananas and cars.

Greg McKeown, the former Auckland City councillor who has worked on the waterfront proposal for Heart of the City, said the ideas were not necessarily solutions.

"At the moment we don't have a spectacular waterfront. We have got a spectacular Hauraki Gulf and a spectacular isthmus. Now we have to infuse the quality of the gulf and land into the waterfront."

Auckland Regional Holdings' plans to buy 100 per cent of Ports of Auckland to ease waterfront development have had a setback after Ports directors said the offer was fair but might not be reasonable and ARC would not raise the $8-a-share offer.