Council upset by ruling on wharf row

Press, 14 June 1978, Page 6

Council upset by ruling on wharf row

The Lyttelton Borough Council is determined not to go down without a fight over the wharf limits wrangle which it has waged with the Lyttelton Harbour Board for the last six months. The Ministerial decision on whether the container terminal administration building should be included within official wharf limits has gone the harbour board’s way; and the Acting Minister of Trans, port (Mr McCready) was equally unresponsive this week to a council appeal against the decision. Nevertheless the council remains convinced that some of the building’s tenants, such as Health Department and Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries officials, are not engaged exclusively on container terminal work. They could be housed anywhere, says the council.

The council also believes it will lose nearly $7OOO a year in rates because of redefined limits.

But in spite of the council’s pleas, Mr McCready said he was “in no way per-

suaded” that the container terminal building should not be included within wharf limits.

“Wharf limits in Wellington and Auckland include the sort of facility you are seeking to have excluded in Lyttelton, and I do not feel it would be proper for me to use rating considerations as the reason for discriminating among ports in defining wharf limits,” Mr McCready said.

Although the council’s cause is virtually lost it will write to the Minister seeking an assurance that the harbour board will not be able to use the container administration building for any other purpose once the wharf limits are extended.