Centre south of Whangarei to create 50 jobs

A $20 million service centre planned for south of Whangarei will create 50 full-time jobs and has won full support from St John Ambulance Service for its potential to promote highway safety.

The Port Marsden Service Centre, covering 28 hectares on Port Marsden Highway, just off State Highway 1, has been granted full consent, but the developers have not got a firm start date at this stage.

The centre is Northland's first truck-orientated highway service centre and is expected to employ up to 50 people when fully developed. A key feature is park-up areas for articulated trucks and cabins for truckies but the centre will also provide a raft of other services for travellers.

These include a campervan parking area with supporting services; storage facilities; fast food outlets; a fuel provider; truck and car washes, and retail outlets related to vehicle supplies.

The project is the brainchild of a group of Whangarei businessmen, operating as Wolf 2008 Ltd - Barry Trass, owner of Homeworld, Peter Fuller, owner of Fulco Contracting, lawyer Wayne Peters, and Brian Eunson, former owner of Claymore Concrete Whangarei.

Spokesman Mr Trass said yesterday that the development was badly needed for safety and convenience.

"There's no real highway stop-off place between just north of Auckland and Kaitaia," he said.

"North-bound drivers are notoriously at risk if they have driven long distances and are driving into the sun in the afternoon, and the Ruakaka straights tend to be particularly dangerous for this reason."

The new service centre had the potential to significantly improve the safety of SH1 through mid and upper Northland because it was "designed specifically to provide a place for motorists and truck-drivers to rest and recover".

Residents in the area had expressed strong concern the traffic hazard created by big trucks parking up on the side of the road on the straights so drivers could rest after seven hours' driving, the legal limit.

"Providing for these drivers is one of our major objectives," he said.

The consents process had been fairly lengthy but all the agencies involved, particularly the Northland Regional Council, the Whangarei District Council and the New Zealand Transport Agency had been good to deal with and supportive.

"They worked hard to make it happen," Mr Trass said.

Although the consents were through, the company could not set a starting date yet.

"We are being careful about working out who will be best providers for the site and what will be the best mix. The recession has slowed up people's willingness to start new businesses but there is a lot of provider interest," Mr Trass said.

Extensive earthworks will be required to consolidate the peaty site, classified as flood-susceptible on unconsolidated to very soft land. About 145,000cu m of earth will be moved to create drains and ponds. At least 85,000cu m of fill material will need to be brought in.

The consents' conditions include requiring all earthworks to be completed in one season, starting after November 1 and completed by the following May 1, to minimise the risk of significant adverse effects from a flood; and sediment retention ponds, bunds, diversion channels and any fuel or chemical storage sites must be capable of accommodating a 100-year flood.