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The Department of Conservation appears to have back-pedalled on its agreement to support the Southland District Council and Stewart Island Community Board’s plan to build a new, safe jetty on Ulva Island.
Doc and the council last year agreed the present Post Office Cove wharf was not a feasible site for a replacement.
Bathing Bay was chosen as an alternative location.
The council said it had received a letter of support from Doc before it went ahead with scoping the Bathing Bay site.
It spent up to $600,000 scoping a council-owned Bathing Bay wharf, which it had already organised funding for.
The project’s future became uncertain after Doc changed direction on that decision.
Cr Jon Spraggon said Ulva Island’s tracks and wharf were interdependent operations.
Visitors needed a safe wharf to access the island’s Doc-owned walking tracks, he said.
A new 350m to 400m link track would need to be built to connect to the island’s track network from the new wharf.
"Basically, they have withdrawn all support, they won’t take ownership of it, they won’t look after future maintenance of it.
"We are not prepared to spend a large sum of money putting something on to Doc land that we don’t control," he said.
But Cr Spraggon was told at a meeting yesterday Doc did not have any money available to build the new link.
Most of the island’s 10,000 visitors came for the national park experience, which included visits to the Ulva Island sanctuary, Cr Spraggon said.
There was now some doubt Doc would take responsibility for the ongoing ownership and maintenance of the track.
It was not the first time Doc had attempted to have ratepayers and external funding agencies pay for its infrastructure on the island.
In June 2022, Doc approached the Stewart Island visitor levy committee requesting $425,000 from the visitor levy fund to fix Doc-owned tracks on Stewart Island for the next 10 years.
It later withdrew its request after $300,000 was granted from the Doc capital intentions fund.
About 85% of Stewart Island-Rakiura is a national park managed by Doc and received more than $750,000 of income each year via thousands of visitors.
Cr Spraggon said he was extremely frustrated by continual roadblocks the community board had faced over the deteriorating wharf and construction costs were increasing with each delay.
The Otago Daily Times approached Conservation Minister Willow-Jean Prime, who declined to comment as it was "an operational issue".
Ms Prime states on her parliamentary profile she is ‘‘a strong advocate for more investment in regional development to create better jobs and support local businesses and communities’’ and liked to ‘‘work collaboratively with local government, business and communities.’’
Doc South Island operations director Aaron Flemming said conversations between the department and the council were ongoing, and it remained committed to engaging with the Ulva Island project and was waiting for more information from the council.
‘‘We’ve remained open to having discussions and staying at the table as they [the council] work through their options. Ultimately, the future of the Ulva Island wharf will be a decision made by SDC, as it is their project.’’
Public access to the island would continue regardless.
- By Toni McDonald