The sea is our road: Marlborough Sounds boaties face off with port

Friday, 29 June 2018

Parking next to the marina costs townies $5 a day, while boaties pay $15 a day to berth in the harbour.

Marlborough Sounds residents are furious a 15-year-old 'gentleman's handshake' promising them cheap parking in Picton Harbour is no longer being honoured.

Boaties who only have access to land through Picton Harbour have accused Port Marlborough of running a 'toll road' by charging them to berth.

But Port Marlborough says the charges are fair and it must run a 'successful' business.

A deal was struck between Port Marlborough and remote Marlborough Sounds residents in 2002, which gave them access to the port to carry out their 'day-to-day lives' for a small annual fee.

* Coastal occupancy charges to be levied in Marlborough

* Q&A with former Port Marlborough chief executive Ian McNabb

For years, the agreement gave them the freedom and flexibility to dock up in Picton as reasonably needed; to do their grocery shopping, see family and visit doctors.

All they had to pay was $100 a year.

But over the years, that 'token' payment has risen to $250 a year, with plans in place to hike the price to $450 a year by 2019.

This gets them one short stay, up to eight hours, a week, and two overnight stays a month.

Additional visits are charged at a casual rate; $15 a day, $30 overnight or $5 for a few hours.

In Picton, a car park next to the marina costs $5 for the day.

Tory Channel resident Tim Healey says residents feel 'betrayed' that Port Marlborough has reneged on their agreement.

Tim Healey and his son Liam: 'The sea is our road'.

Healey took three or four trips to Picton a week; dropping his son into town, and providing respite care for parents of children with disabilities, who he took out to the Sounds.

'I can't afford to go in and tie up at that wharf … it's just making life bloody hard,' he says.

'Does a handshake mean nothing anymore?'

Healey and other disgruntled residents, fed up their concerns were being sidestepped by the council, cornered Sounds councillors at a community meeting in Waitaria Bay, on the northern side of Kenepuru Sound, this week.

Their berthage woes are unique to the Sounds - and the rest of the country - as many only have boat-access to land..

Healey says Port Marlborough essentially run a 'toll gate' at Picton Harbour for some Sounds residents getting to town.

'Everyone has a right to travel freely in this country, and the sea is our road,' he says.

'You don't get a bill when you're driving into Blenheim or Picton … yet when we come in on our road, which is a wet one, we're being required to pay this fee.'

Sounds ward councillor Trevor Hook explained at the meeting that although the council was the sole shareholder of Port Marlborough, it had 'no influence over day-to-day management of the port'.

Disgruntled residents, from left, Tim Healey, Gary Orchard and Dave McFarlane cornered Sounds councillors at a Sounds Advisory Group meeting on Monday.

Sounds residents, from left, Peter Cowell, Richard Konigstorfer, Tim Healey, Pete Beech, Joe Holl and Mike Rosson at the Picton Marina.

Tory Channel resident Tim Healey feels 'betrayed' by Port Marlborough, which he claims has reneged on a 'gentleman's handshake'.

According to Hook they are an independent board, who set their own fees.

Port Marlborough chief executive Rhys Welbourn says the concession still offers a 70 per cent discount on casual fees; 'significantly less than any other user would pay for the same facilities and services'.

Welbourn says under The Port Companies Act 1988, they were required to work as a 'successful business'.

'As such, we are a commercial enterprise like any other, but our shareholder is ultimately the Marlborough District Council.

'This means that a portion of our profits are directed to the council and distributed by them back to the community – to the benefit of the whole of Marlborough,' Welbourn says.