America's Cup and Olympic champions make stand against Harbour Steal
by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com NZL on 20 Mar 2015
Team SCA tacks to clear existing wharves - which will extend even further into the Harbour under the proposals - Volvo Ocean Race - In Port Race, Auckland Richard Gladwell
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Prominent business leaders, sailors, architects, musicians and art figures have signed an open letter demanding that Ports of Auckland 'stop stealing our harbour' for two massive wharf extensions.
The changes were pushed through a non-notified Resource Consent process before Christmas to extend Bledisloe Wharf 100 metres into the Waitemata Harbour, destroying views and impinging further on water space.
Lady Pippa Blake, Rugby World Cup-winning coach Sir Graham Henry, musician Neil Finn and businessmen Rob Fyfe and Sir Stephen Tindall are among those to sign the letter ahead of a protest at Queens Wharf on Sunday.
Other sailors to make a stand against the proposals include Sir Michael Fay, Chris Bouzaid, Brad Butterworth, Penny Whiting, Barbara Kendall, Cedric Allan, Tony Blake, Scott Colebrook, Roy Dickson, Bill Endean,David Glen, Mark Hauser, Kim McDell Peter Montgomery, Ralph Roberts, Hamish Ross, Don McGlashan and more.
Yachting identity Chris Dickson said he signed the letter because he was born in Auckland and over the decades had seen the incremental creep of land steadily closing into Waitemata Harbour.
Dickson said he was not anti-progress or anti-reclamation, but the harbour had become too narrow and dangerous for small boats.
'Auckland harbour is not a motorway. It is not a roadway. It is not a cycleway.
It is a waterway and enough is enough,' said Dickson, who has been sailing on the harbour for 45 years.
Auckland Council, which owns the port, granted resource consent late last year for two large wharf extensions from the end of Bledisloe Wharf. They extend out about 100m, are 33m wide and cover 7590sq m.
The port company plans to start construction next month and says it will need to reclaim 3ha of seabed between them over time.
An advertisement in today's Herald contains the open letter to the port company signed by 110 Aucklanders.
A Protest will be held on Queens Wharf on Sunday March 22, 2015 at 3.30pm
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