Waterfront walkway reconsidered

A 2007 artist's impression of what a walkway from Memorial Park to The Strand could look like. Image / File

The controversial Memorial Park to Strand walkway has won its way into the list of potential projects to be funded from an $8 million pool of money for city centre and waterfront upgrades.

Councillor Rick Curach succeeded by a vote of 7-4 to "include the potential walkway in any considerations".

The council has already agreed to spend $30,000 to look at consenting issues for the walkway that was originally designed in 2007. It encountered a lot of opposition at the time from residents living above the walkway who feared it would be used by criminals to gain access to their properties.

Grace Rd and Neighbourhood Residents Association spokesman Phil Green said the walkway concept had a good reception from most of the residents on Grace Rd when it was proposed in 2007 but a few opposed the idea.

"There were some objections and some concerns by the neighbourhood residents as far as encroachment on personal safety and and some aspects of the walkway going right past their back door," Mr Green said.

Since then, however, some of those properties had sold and had new owners.

He looked forward to going back to residents to see whether there had been a change of attitude since it was first proposed.

Yesterday's council meeting agreed to put aside $8 million over the next five years for waterfront and street upgrades. The street upgrades would be the council's contribution to large private-sector developments in the downtown.

Cr Gail McIntosh said it was not just about the waterfront but to make sure that the rest of the area close to the waterfront was presentable.

Cr Curach argued it would be short-sighted to exclude consideration of the walkway because some people would prefer that was done before anything else.

Cr Steve Morris agreed they needed to at least consider it because government subsidies could pay two-thirds of the costs.

Mayor Stuart Crosby (pictured left) opposed, calling it an ad-hoc approach that should not be muddled with what the council had consulted on.

He said the walkway was riddled with issues including waterfront access rights, and it would not happen in the next two to three years.

"I support the walkway but it should not be confused with this."

Cr Matt Cowley said nothing was going to happen at the southern end of The Strand because the council did not support the $12 million option. "It is a waste-of-time resolution."

There was equal support from submitters to the council's Long Term Plan for each of $4 million, $8 million and $12 million funding options.

The council said $8 million would allow significant projects such as access to the water and Durham St to be delivered quickly and efficiently. A total of $1 million would be spent next year, followed by $6 million between 2017-19 and $1 million in 2020.