Northerm gateway needs a plan
21/06/2006 12:00:00 a.m.
THE entrance to Wellington is at risk of becoming a jumbled mess, warns the Wellington Civic Trust.
The Northern Gateway, the area of port land, railway land and road north of the railway station, needs a comprehensive urban design strategy, the Trust says.
"It’s an area that has been in a state of planning blight for so long. It’s got to be more than the scruffy area it is now," says the Trust’s Alan Smith.
Smith is organising a seminar on the Northern Gateway to be held in August.
Projects currently being planned for the area include better rail access to the port, improvements to interisland ferry access, state highway realign-ments, a more attractive welcome to the city for cruise liner passengers, revitalisation of the railway station, a landmark sculpture, and the Harbour Quays office development.
There is also talk about increased rail traffic through the area, Smith says.
"We want to provide a neutral forum where stakeholders and the public can engage. As much as anything, it is to make transparent what is happening, and by whom.
"There is no understanding of who is making improvements, or when they will happen."
Port company plans to develop part of its land into an office park have upset some property developers, who are concerned it will lead to an over supply of office space. Smith says the Trust is not arguing for or against such development.
"The Trust hasn’t formed a view on whether the CBD should extend, but it is important that it doesn’t just gradually leak all over the place. The Trust is concerned that projects in the area have a high standard of urban design and that they complement each other."
