Expert warns against developing rare karst landscape at Punakaiki

Tuesday, 31 December 2019

From the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks to Hokitika Gorge, the view is breathtaking.

A multimillion-dollar plan to redevelop the congested centre of a tourist hotspot on the West Coast has been met with dismay by conservationists.

Karst specialist Neil Silverwood said the plan to build a new visitor centre, community centre, toilets and car parking at Punakaiki – a popular tourist spot on the edge of Paparoa National Park – would have a significant impact on the environment.

Trees would have to be removed from the unique landscape to make way for the new buildings and about 80 new car parks. Punakaiki is home to only 150 people, but more than 500,000 tourists visit the area each year.

A tourist visits Punakaiki's famous pancake rocks.

Punakaiki's landscape is characterised by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves that began forming in limestone rock 30 million years ago. Up to 70 per cent of New Zealand's karst landscapes have already been modified and developed over, including much of Waitomo in Waikato, and Patarau and Takaka near Nelson, Silverwood said.

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About 500,000 tourists visit the pancake rocks every year.

'It's a scarce landform and there is precious little left. We need to stop if we want to have any left.

'We need some big picture thinking instead of saying 'we have lots of cars, let's build more car parks'.'

An artist's impression of the redevelopment at Punakaiki's Dolomite Point, where visitors stop to visit the famous pancake rocks.

Silverwood was pleased the Department of Conservation (DOC) was rethinking plans to blast an underpass under the state highway at Punakaiki, but was concerned by how big the planned the visitor and community centres would be, and that the number of car parks would double.

'It's a real intrusion I understand the residents wanting a hall but it should not be on land that has been given to DOC for conservation,' he said.

He suggested the community should be allowed to use the new visitor centre that is being built by DOC and managed by Ngāti Waewae.

Local Angie Stenning said the community did not have anywhere to gather for meetings, events and Civil Defence emergencies.

Buller mayor Jamie Cleine says the council can't do everything it wants to at Punakaiki, so is 'chipping away' at its plans where and when it can.

'We've had to have public meetings on the lawn at the campground because there was nowhere else.

'The closest yoga class is in Charleston, which has a community hall but a population much smaller than ours. We have new mums that have to go to Westport or Greymouth for play groups.'

Work will be done to improve traffic management and road safety at Punakaiki.

The community centre would be eco-friendly with solar panels and screened with vegetation. It would only be 150 square metres and no large trees would have to be cut down, she said.

'We know more than anyone that we have to look after our natural environment because that's why people come here.'

Resident Suzanne Hills said she believed the community centre should be incorporated in the $25.6 million Government-funded plan for Punakaiki.

'The land is being held for the purpose of preserving natural resources not building community centres. It makes no sense,' she said.

Buller mayor Jamie Cleine said the district council released its own masterplan for Punakaiki in March 2019 after holding workshops with residents. Most wanted a community centre where they could hold meetings and classes.

DOC also asked for public feedback, which closed on December 13, and would hold hearings on the proposal at the end of January.

Cleine said the council had asked for $700,000 from the Government's Provincial Growth Fund for the community centre. It would contribute $100,000 and DOC would need to provide the land.

It would cost $70m to bring the council's overall masterplan for Punakaiki to fruition, he said.

'Obviously from a council point of view we can't do it all. The maths don't add up. We can't go it alone so we are chipping away doing what we can do to seek funding and support.'

The council banned freedom camping in the area in December 2018, which helped reduce problems with littering and overcrowding, he said.

It was also working on upgrading the town's water supply and wastewater treatment system to meet existing and future demands.

DOC's plan to redevelop Punakaiki's congested centre is in the final design stages. It includes a new visitor centre, a pedestrian crossing over the state highway, measures to improve traffic management and safety, parking, pedestrian walkways and cycle paths, toilets and landscaping.

Project manager Phil Rossiter said DOC had put a call out for suppliers to complete final designs for the project.

'Visitor numbers have doubled [to 508,000 in 2017] but there hasn't been any investment in infrastructure. The [current] visitor centre is 40 years old, there's only a few toilet cubicles and it's crumbling under the pressure.'

The area needed three times as many car parks than it currently had to meet future predicted demand, Rossiter said.

The concept plans included an underpass but DOC had listened to concerns from conservationists and was considering other solutions.