After saving the Waikato District Council millions of dollars by advocating that the Raglan Wharf structure should be repaired rather than replaced, local resident John Lawson is perplexed that the Waikato District Council are now considering sending him a bill. John has released this statement:
Tuesday (8 Feb) morning’s Strategy and Finance Committee meeting of Waikato District Council (WDC) is to discuss whether to charge costs following withdrawal of an appeal to the Environment court to list Raglan Wharf. Raglan resident John Lawson had appealed against the District Plan which listed many buildings, but omitted the wharf. WDC has now decided to repair the wharf, rather than demolish it. “That was what I had been asking for all along, so I decided to save ratepayers any more waste of money by withdrawing the appeal” said Mr Lawson.
He added that he was surprised WDC was now considering charging him costs and not allowing him to put his case to the Committee. He said “WDC has incurred all sorts of unnecessary costs before realising that my case was correct”. He gave an example of a report commissioned by WDC only last July, which said, “A qualified structural engineer and metals conservator would understand that an historic reinforced concrete structure immersed in salt water, and in immediate proximity to a saline environment, would have no viable economic means of conservation without a long-term (many years) treatment at very high cost, and well beyond the merit of the combined heritage values of this wharf.” In October Environment Court judge, Justice Harland, commenting on WDC’s request for yet another report, said she had the impression that WDC’s solicitor “has not been given full instructions by the Council about this matter . . . it would be a waste of everyone’s resources for this to occur.” WDC had then just received a report saying that repair was the best and cheapest option.
The present Raglan wharf at the end of Wallis St was built just after the First World War. At that time it was ground breaking in using reinforced concrete for a rural wharf. The slightly later Tolaga Bay wharf of similar construction has already been restored. The New Zealand Historic Places Trust, which worked for restoration of the Tolaga Bay wharf commented that, after the fire last April which burnt the old buildings on Raglan wharf, retaining the structure was “more valuable [as] even less of the sites that represent the devp of the town and wharf, now exist”.