Oamaru Harbour's heritage may get greater protection, with the Waitaki District Council considering whether to list 14 important items in its district plan.
The items include buildings, objects, places and sites within the harbour area that are not listed for protection.
Originally, the council planned to do that through a harbour-side variation of its district plan, but did not proceed with the plan change.
That left the items without protection.
They range from Holmes Wharf and Normanby Wharf through to the red sheds and even a mast salvaged from the wreck of Robert and Betsy.
Railway lines, the Cape Wanbrow gun emplacements and the Oamaru lighthouse are other items.
On Wednesday, the council's strategy committee will look three options to give these greater protection.
Policy planner Richard Sutherland said the council might also want to include other heritage items from outside the harbour area in any plan change.
The options the committee faces are to initiate a plan change listing the 14 items in the district plan; to place the whole harbour area and Harbour-Tyne Sts historic area on the heritage items list; or expand any plan change to include other unlisted heritage items in the district.
People who favoured a conservation approach to heritage were likely to want the total area listed, while those who were "pro-development" would favour a list of items, he said.
If listed, any activity or development that affected a heritage item needed to be considered on its own merits and could be handled as a non-notified application (meaning no public submissions) with the written agreement of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust.
Without such agreement, it could be notified for public submissions.
david.bruce@odt.co.nz