All Eyes On Carterton Industrial Land, But There’s One Issue

Wednesday, 19 March 2025, 7:59 pm
Article: Emily Ireland - Local Democracy Reporter

A vast expanse of industrial land in Waingawa in Carterton has been identified as a solution to a regional shortfall in Wellington.

But Carterton Mayor Ron Mark expressed concerns at this week’s regional leadership committee that Waingawa’s potential was being stunted by unreliable access via the Remutaka Hill road.

The Wellington Regional Leadership Committee, a regional council committee, commissioned an Industrial Land Study to better understand the anticipated shortfall in industrial land at a regional level and to identify potential options for future industrial growth.

It found the region had 1705 hectares of industrial land zoned for industrial use, plus an additional 90ha in future urban zones.

The largest area of industrial zoned land in the region was located at Seaview in Lower Hutt (300ha), followed by the Waingawa Industrial Estate (196ha) in Carterton, and the light industrial land in Porirua City east of the commercial centre.

At a meeting on Tuesday, Mark said one of the biggest obstacles for future development in Waingawa was SH2 over the Remutaka Hill.

This was reflected in the report which said Wairarapa was identified as a potential location for food processing and manufacturing businesses, “however access via the Remutaka Hill is seen as a constraint by many”.

“We’re very aware talking to developers right now ourselves that there is a lot of movement happening in Levin and Otaki, with a land grab to buy industrial land because the new highway has changed the game,” Mark said.

“I don’t hear many people within this committee advocating that one of the prime movers to create a more attractive industrial park would be upgrading SH2.

“It is my fear that no matter how much good work we put in here, it will be SH2 that rules us out.”

He said Greater Wellington Regional Council needed to “put something in the regional transport plan to ensure we get improvements to SH2 to make Waingawa more attractive”.

Porirua Mayor Anita Baker, who was also on the regional leadership committee, said the Wellington Regional Mayoral Forum and Iwi Forum had written to Transport Minister Chris Bishop and the CEO of NZTA and about the Remutaka route, “of which neither have replied”.

Advocacy work was also underway by the Remutaka Road Action Group for an investigation into an alternative route over the Remutaka Hill.

The regional leadership committee agreed to progress the work on the Industrial Land Study, noting that any further progress on these or any other sites was subject to working alongside local authorities and mana whenua.

– Local Democracy Reporting is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air

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