From 1 April, Port Marlborough will take over the operation of Picton‘s Waitohi Domain truck park.

The facility was constructed last year in an effort to ease congestion created by heavy vehicles parking in Picton‘s streets, due to the closure of State Highway 1 following the Kaikoura earthquake.

Council assets and services manager Richard Coningham says now that SH1 is back up and running again, the requirement for a truck park has lessened.

“It was always council‘s intention to rent the facility to a suitable tenant and Port Marlborough is a viable solution,” Coningham says.

Port Marlborough property and business development manager Ryan Lock says the facility will continue to operate as a truck park, as long as there is a demand for it.

“Port Marlborough intends to implement a rotational fee structure, similar to that of most car parking buildings, where users pay for the time they occupy the park. Effectively customers will register for the parking facility and be provided with a means of access such as a swipe card or RFID tag; this technology will then be linked to a billing system which will invoice users,” Lock says.

“We are also planning to upgrade some of the park‘s facilities, for example, installing an access control/barrier arm, security cameras and possibly a toilet and shower facility, but our intention is to keep the park fully operational during this time.”