Public says “Waterfront option works better east”

Heart of the City chief executive Alex Swney says the Government’s preference for a waterfront site is right and Aucklanders are showing greater support for the waterfront stadium 300 metres east of the central city wharves, on Bledisloe.

“The Bledisloe option is an improvement in urban design terms and will also save up to $100million in piling costs and shorten the construction period,” says Swney. “All that is good news for the waterfront option.”

Four out of five Aucklanders responding to a Heart of the City poll favour a waterfront stadium on Beldisloe ahead of the central wharves.

“This poll delves a little deeper into the waterfont option and confirms that people will support it more if we reserve those prime central wharves for ferries, cruise ships new public buildings and spaces, creating a broader waterfront for the people,” says Swney. “We are 100% behind that.”

“What we need now is some leadership from the Auckland Regional and Auckland City councils,” says Swney. “What is best for the city long-term? This is not the time for unnecessary compromises.”

Heart of the City says that it is quite possible to use part of Bledisloe wharf without putting at risk New Zealand’s import/export trade. “Ports are digging theirs toes in as a negotiating position,” says Greg McKeown, waterfront spokesperson for Heart of the City. “What we really need is some collaboration to help make the overall outcome as good as possible for the city.”

“The ports company and its masters would do well to look at what is happening at
Spaghetti Junction,” says McKeown. “The $216 million upgrade of New Zealand’s busiest motorway interchange is blazing ahead yet it has remained open morning noon and night for peak traffic every day of the construction period. There’s a can-do lesson in that for the ports.”

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