Green light for road closures during film production in Whanganui

Ridgway St. Photo / File

Sections of Whanganui's Ridgway St and Victoria Ave will become a 19th century film set.

Whanganui District Council has given the green light to close the areas to traffic and pedestrians from May 9 to May 11 while Dancing Pictures uses the area as a film set.

The council held a brief extraordinary meeting on Thursday to approve the application which will allow the section from 24 to 43 Victoria Ave and the section from 51 Drews Ave to the Ridgway St/Victoria Ave intersection to be closed from 6pm on May 9 to 6am on May 11.

In early April the council received two applications from Dancing Pictures Limited for the closures and affected residents and business owners were consulted and have given their approval for the proposal.

Paul Stieglbauer of Dancing Pictures thanked the council for approving street closures that will enable filming in Whanganui next month. Photo / Bevan Conley

Mainstreet Whanganui, Ngā Tāngata Tiaki and Tupoho have given their support, and emergency services and Horizons Regional Council have not expressed objections.

Dancing Pictures location manager Paul Stieglbauer expressed his thanks to Whanganui & Partners creative industries and arts strategic lead Emma Bugden and the council for working with the company to enable the process to happen within a short timeframe.

In a supporting statement, Mainstreet Whanganui outlined the benefits the filming will bring to the city.

"Our reason for supporting their application is that we believe that bringing film crews to Whanganui builds vibrancy to Whanganui and the CBD, has an economic benefit to Whanganui and promotes a range of talented people who reside in Whanganui, while also promoting our physical environment such as heritage buildings and landscapes for future movie opportunities."

The council's economic arm Whanganui & Partners established Film Whanganui last year as a regional film office, working with the New Zealand Film Commission to attract both local and international productions, with Bugden in the lead role.