Plan for paragliding in bid to attract tourists

Press, 15 February 1989, Page 32

Plan for paragliding in bid to attract tourists

PAM MORTON

By

A paragliding business in Lyttelton Harbour would provide a spin-off for other businesses in the area, a meeting of basin authorities has been told.

The proposal to run a paragliding business off Rapaki Beach was put forward by a Cass Bay resident, Mr Alister Meare, at a town planning committee meeting of the Lyttelton Borough Council and Mount Herbert County Council.

In an oral submission to the council, Mr Meare said he wanted to establish a paragliding business to encourage tourism in the Cass Bay area. It would also have spinoffs for neighbouring Lyttelton. Mr Meare said access to the beach would be

gained through Cass Bay. Customers would then be taken by boat to Rapaki Beach so they could paraglide oft the beach. The hours of paragliding would depend on the weather, he said.

However, approval was sought for the business to run seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Mr Meare said there was no danger to people swimming off the beach as the boat needed to lift the paragliders would be 100 m offshore and out of the way of swimmers. Paragliding was a “controlled, safe, sedate sport,” said Mr Meare. “It’s so safe, in Wanaka, at Christmas, a 73-year-old lady had a go there and landed safely in the water.”

#e said the jetboat

would be suitably muffled to keep noise down. The chairman of the Lyttelton town planning committee, Cr Noeline Lester, said there had been a request from Cass Bay residents to have a restriction on the time the business could run. Other concerns expressed by residents included noise and lack of parking space. The Mount Herbert county chairman, Mr Dave Collins, said the people of Rapaki should be consulted before the business went ahead.

A "very low-key” operation was how Cr Brent Stanaway described the proposal. It was recommended that the council give their approval to the venture on %-three-month trial*