Otago Peninsula: Business, wildlife priorities

A fur seal on the Otago Peninsula cycleway in July 2021. PHOTO: ODT FILES
A fur seal on the Otago Peninsula cycleway in July 2021. PHOTO: ODT FILES
Supporting local businesses and biodiversity groups are top priorities for the Otago Peninsula Community Board this year.

Board chairman Paul Pope said one of the highlights from the past year was seeing the "huge number of people" using the Peninsula Connection, especially during summer.

Construction of the road-widening project started in April 2018 and has been completed in stages.

"That’s a pretty big deal for us down here," Mr Pope said.

Other highlights for 2021 included progress of smaller projects such as the Tomahawk car park, Te Rauone beach, and marine and aquatic facilities.

He was pleased to see the improvements made to Scott Hall, in Harwood, and Portobello Hall.

"They’re little things but they build up and make a difference."

The board also enjoyed hearing from local school pupils, who shared their ideas and applied for board scholarships.

"We had some really great kids come through wanting to do some really interesting things.

"We hope that we can do that again this year."

Also on the cards for this year was, hopefully, seeing the Peninsula Connection finished.

Continuing to support local businesses that struggled during the Covid-19 pandemic was also a priority, as was being involved in the city council’s destination plan.

Mr Pope hoped to see a continual growth in the sea lion population and a halt in the decline of yellow-eyed penguins.

"Biodiversity is critical not only to our identity as an area but also to our community as well."

The board would continue to support the great work done by groups such as the Otago Peninsula Biodiversity Group, Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust and New Zealand Sea Lion Trust.

As always, engagement with the community and Dunedin City Council was key.

"The priority really is to continue to keep the community informed about what’s going on."

 

 

JESSICA.WILSON@thestar.co.nz

 

 

 

Comments

Hopefully the board will also push for pedestrian safety along the shared path as many cyclist continue to be a real danger to life and limb. We were promised an education campaign but no sign of that yet.