Stephanie Johnson: Preserve sweet city oasis

When I was a little girl, my Great-uncle Reg, who was a lovely liar, told me how sharks swim up Auckland Harbour to drink the sugar-water that flows from the Chelsea Sugar Refinery in Birkenhead. No doubt, many Auckland children have grown up believing all sorts of things about the pink castle by the water.

Easily visible from the Harbour Bridge as we travel north, or from any of the Herne Bay beaches, the Chelsea Sugar Refinery has a fantastical aura: ships come and go, white plumes puff from the smokestack, it has a strong association with the childhood elixir Golden Syrup, it seems from a distance to be set in a forest valley of tall, dark trees. The beautiful pink Cistern House, the building with the turret, has stood its ground since 1884.

In the tradition of 19th-century paternalistic companies, the CSR has a long and honourable history. There was the Provident Fund and Benefit Society for those fallen on hard times, the annual company picnic was avidly anticipated by workers and their families. The beautiful grounds and ponds were always open, as they are today, to the public for walks. It is an oasis in the middle of the city.

Like the tank farm, it is one of the few remaining places of work left on our harbour shores, but in sharp contrast, it abounds with wildlife. There are rare species such as kaka and falcon, not to mention shags, kereru and bellbirds. The Horse Paddock remains as it has been for over a century, though empty of horses.

But the sharks, not the sweet-toothed ones, are circling. Chelsea, whose parent company is the Colonial Sugar Refinery, may be shutting up shop in the next couple of years and selling the land.

Plans are afoot for the park to be minimised and for the construction of a mixture of low and high-density apartment blocks.

If this happens, bush will be felled, the horse paddock fall victim to intensive housing of up to four storeys high.

The oldest factory buildings would remain, but surrounded by 528 residential units. Thousands of cars could be added to the already congested Onewa Rd, to say nothing of the narrow and winding Colonial Rd that leads directly to the refinery.

In order to do this - and make what will doubtless be vast sums of money - the CSR is negotiating with the North Shore City Council for a plan change.

Currently, the land is zoned light industrial. Why shouldn't it remain so? The buildings that the company are compelled to retain would make perfect, extraordinary premises for creative industries, galleries, cafés, conference facilities.

This precious piece of Auckland's history would be preserved against voracious and aesthetically challenged property developers who have already won so many times, most recently at Long Bay.

By retaining the park in its entirety, to become part of the greater reserve planned for the past nine years by the indomitable Chelsea Park Trust, the CSR and North Shore Council would not only be preserving this unique 19th-century industrial estate but also the rare flora and fauna that surrounds it.

* Stephanie Johnson is an Auckland writer