Tolaga Bay Wharf’s future uncertain amid funding challenges

Gisborne councillors pressed staff to explore options for a deteriorating tourist icon, the Tolaga Bay Wharf during Tuesday's Operations meeting at Gisborne District Council.

Councillors are urging staff to investigate options for restoring the Gisborne district’s “iconic” Tolaga Bay Wharf, which is suffering from “ongoing deterioration” after severe weather in 2023/24.

In 2014 the wharf had $5.5 million worth of restoration work, primarily focused on the first half of the structure in an effort led by Save the Tolaga Bay Wharf Trust.

Last year, Tolaga Bay resident Clive Bibby requested that the council accept responsibility for the upkeep of Tolaga Bay Wharf and Reynolds Hall due to a “historical commitment”.

The wharf is owned and maintained by the council.

Council staff presented a report to councillors detailing the background of the two local landmarks and the anticipated next steps during a meeting on Tuesday morning.

However, councillors pressed on the importance of the wharf and wanted more information on the costs of repair or ongoing maintenance.

Councillor Larry Foster said: “It’s half-closed and it’s one of our biggest tourist icons of the region and I don’t see any plans?”

Tolaga Bay Wharf is closed at the half way mark after severe weather events in 2023/24

He said the future of the motor camp, opposite the landmark, would rely on the wharf’s condition as it attracts so many people, and locals use it for fishing.

Community lifelines director Tim Barry said the limitation was the wharf restoration or maintenance costs would come from the same funding as roading and the wharf no longer served any industry.

The report said staff planned to maintain the closure point halfway, replace life buoys and undertake maintenance on the part of the wharf that is still open.

Additionally, an engineer would continue annual inspections of its condition, and the council welcomed any community group wanting to source external funding.

According to the report, a computer scanning survey was completed after weather damage in 2023/24 and was used to generate a baseline 3D computer model of the wharf’s condition.

“Council monitors its ongoing deterioration because the condition of the structure is making it difficult and time-consuming to visually inspect as there are substantial changes each inspection.”

Barry said the purpose of the wharf was originally for exports.

“Now without those supporting industries, funding for its maintenance is very challenging,” he said.

He said he did not have a figure for restoration costs but the $5.5m cost of the last restoration gave a good initial idea of the scale.

The weather conditions and woody debris hitting the wharf accelerated its decline and its second half had deteriorated more than the first.

Example of a failed pile on the Tolaga Bay Wharf in August 2023. Image / Gisborne District Council

Barry could not give an expected lifespan on the wharf in its current state.

“The seawater is getting into the reinforcements and then it is going to speed up,” he said.

“To be totally honest, we are managing decline here.”

“To reverse that, is a major intervention, with capital that we don’t have, and at a scale which we would not likely attract very easily.”

Councillor Collin Alder said the council needed to be realistic.

“Unless we can get someone like Elon Musk interested in tying up his yacht there and funding the bills ... the reality is we are probably not going to be able to afford it in the future.”

Alder said the council should start to think about “some sort of managed retreat” of the wharf in their plans.

According to the report, the funding pool acquired from the “Save the Tolaga Bay Wharf” Trust included money from the New Zealand Lotteries Board, New Zealand Historic Places Trust, Eastland Community Trust, private beneficiaries and Gisborne District Council.

The council has spent an additional $233,030 since 2014 on maintenance.

Mayor Rehette Stoltz said the council had a massive success with the War Memorial Theatre, as it was a trust structure, but still a council facility.

“People were ducking when they were seeing us, hiding behind their cars, because we were trying to get money from everyone and everywhere,” Stoltz said.

She also said Prime Minister Christopher Luxon had announced huge injections into tourism and urged councillors to take a look to see if the council could qualify to do some minor work to complement the area.

Councillor Tony Robinson said if the council were to go to the Government it would need a paper that accurately reflects the state of the wharf, pathways for repair and pathways for management of decline.

Deputy Mayor Josh Wharehinga warned that the only way the wharf would survive was via grant and Government funding.

“There is no way our ratepayer can afford to keep this wharf,” he said.

“If it was $5.5m to do half of it 11 years ago, then it’s going to be much more to do that with today’s prices, and today’s weather.”

Council chief executive Nedine Thatcher Swann said more robust information on the wharf would be brought to councillors and suggested that this was considered as part of a broader sweep of tourism interventions.

She said the council was also working with the Tokomaru Bay community for the restoration of their wharf.

Work had been done on the feasibility of opening up different wharves across the region. However, no external funding was gained.

She suggested there was more work to do to understand the restrictions, costs and implications of different options before committing staff time.