Aquarium backers switch to new site

Wellington's seaside aquarium backers have abandoned controversial plans to build a marine education centre at Te Raekaihau Pt on the south coast in favour of a new site.

They have turned their attention to a site just around a corner - a disused piece of land on the western side of Lyall Bay known as Maranui Depot.

Wellington Marine Conservation Trust has withdrawn its High Court appeal against an Environment Court decision that denied resource consent for the proposed $20 million marine education centre at Te Raekaihau Pt.

Wellington City Council, which owns the land, has given its support to the proposed site change. It is now deciding whether to withdraw its own High Court appeal against the Environment Court's decision.

Maranui Depot is a former council quarry and site for road-building equipment, a few hundred metres from Te Raekaihau Pt. In 2004, the area was used for filming Skull Island in Peter Jackson's King Kong.

Trust chairman Victor Anderlini said the Maranui site had always been the "next-best location".

It was also preferred by most of those who supported the idea of a marine education centre for Wellington but were opposed to building it at Te Raekaihau Pt.

The new site had several disadvantages, including its separation from direct access to the seashore. "We still believe Te Raekaihau is the very best location for a marine education centre to succeed, given its ideal position on the seashore.

"However, we consider marine education is so essential that getting a new centre built as soon as possible is more important than fighting a long-drawn-out and expensive legal battle."

Dr Anderlini and Judy Hutt, his fellow trust founder and director of the Island Bay Marine Education Centre, had been promoting the Te Raekaihau proposal for nearly a decade.

Ms Hutt said the trust would not be able to use the plans for Te Raekaihau drawn up by architect Ian Athfield.

"It will be a totally new project. It's back to the drawing board."

The trust would also have to begin fundraising again, she said. "We would have to start from scratch again like we did at Te Raekaihau." It had received a lot of support and donations for that proposal. "We know it can happen again."

Wellington City Council had pledged a $7 million interest-free loan for the construction of the Te Raekaihau centre and spent about $700,000 on the plan.

Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast said she supported discussions about the feasibility of the new site. "Maranui ... is now overgrown and disused and could potentially be a good site for the marine education centre."