Support for sinking navy vessel off Northland

A plan to sink a third former navy vessel, the frigate HMNZS Canterbury, off Tutukaka on the Northland coast has received enthusiastic support and the promise of a grant from Whangarei District Council.

Tutukaka Coast Promotion Society is one of 12 groups tendering to buy the Canterbury from the New Zealand Navy.

Society spokesman Jeroen Jongejans presented the plan to the council last month and yesterday the council voted to give the society a letter of support for the project and a $50,000 grant from its deferred capital expenditure budget if the tender succeeded.

Councillor John Williamson said the letter and funding would show the council was behind a project that would help enhance the internationally recognised diving centre that Tutukaka had become.

Mr Williamson said the society had done a good job in boosting tourism and interest in the Tutukaka coast and deserved council support.

Tenders for the Canterbury close toward the end of September and groups from Coromandel, Gisborne and Leigh, as well as several scrap metal companies, are believed to be also bidding for the frigate.

If successful with the tender, the society will sink the Canterbury about 150m away from its sister frigate, HMNZS Waikato, off the coast of Tutukaka.

The Waikato was sunk in 28m of water in November 2000, while the former naval survey vessel, HMNZS Tui was sunk nearby in 1999.

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHANGAREI)