Bunnings 10-year hunt for site at an end?

Trades giant Bunnings hopes its 10-year quest to find a site in Hastings could be fulfilled - if it is allowed to set up as part of new industrial areas planned on the outskirts of the city.

Bunnings national property and development manager Dan Kneebone presented to the Hastings District Council's long-term plan hearing yesterday to say the company was "still very keen to be in Hastings".

Mr Kneebone had been working at Bunnings for a decade, the same amount of time he'd been unsuccessfully looking for a site in Hastings.

"During that time we have opened 26 small shops and around 24 larger sites around the country. We do have a presence in Hastings [King St] but it is a small shop. Our intention is to open a larger one to meet market demand."

He said Bunnings had a set requirement of between 2.5-3ha for a large site.

"But we haven't been able to find a site that fits our needs in Hastings."

The company was unsuccessful in its appeal to the Environment Court in 2011 to build on a site it owned on Pakowhai Rd, near the Evenden Rd intersection. "The message was we needed to go and find a place that was in compliance with the district plan," Mr Kneebone said.

"The council staff have come back with a report identifying a few sites and so there are some options that we are looking at."

Bunnings did not want to be in central Hastings although the company had considered a site in the current mega centre complex now occupied by Mega Mitre 10.

"We go for the peripheral locations, sometimes in industrial zones where many of our customers in the trades come from. About 38 per cent of our business is from trades, the rest is DIY retail," Mr Kneebone said.

Bunnings had submitted to the council's private plan change for a new industrial area, for a food cluster sector, to be created on Elwood Rd, Tomoana.

It argued there was a lack of industrial land available in Hastings and the plan change should cater for all industrial activities.

Bunnings said while it may be perceived as retail but it had a greater connection with industry and required land with an industrial or other suitable zoning away from residential areas. Mr Kneebone said a Hastings store could employ about 120 people.