'We don’t need wi-fi': Plans for rustic park raise questions

Monday, 27 July 2026

Marlborough District Council is planning to turn the former Taylor Pass Landfill into a million-dollar wi-fi enabled park, but soil contamination issues have delayed works.

Plans for a wi-fi-enabled million-dollar park has Marlborough’s mayor wondering whether the council has their priorities straight.

A councillor also questioned the need for wi-fi at the “rustic” park at the old Taylor Pass Landfill in Blenheim.

Council parks and open spaces manager Jane Tito told Local Democracy Reporting that wi-fi, along with power and water supply, had been part of the park’s design since it was proposed in 2022 as it would allow the park to be used for events.

Design plans for the park at the former Taylor Pass Landfill site. The park was given a $1m budget in the 2024-34 Long Term Plan.

A quarter of the park's budget, $250,000, would go towards hooking up the power, water and wi-fi, but so far only $38,000 had been spent, Tito said.

However, $200,000 had been saved by allowing developers from nearby subdivisions and construction sites to dump their excess soil at the park, Tito said. The developers were even doing some of the planned soil mounds free of charge.

In a workshop on Thursday, councillors reviewed potential projects to be paid for by the council’s Land Subdivision Reserve, a budget funded by land developers for community asset upgrades.

The review covered eight proposed projects, and one that was already under way. The total cost of all nine projects would be $1,664,000.

Tito said the park would be “rugged” and “rustic”.

The proposed projects were Spring Creek Hall upgrades ($45,000), a Wai Iti Avenue-Alabama Rd accessway ($51,000), upgrades to Blenheim’s 15-year-old wayfinding signs ($100,000), Lansdowne Park netball court resurfacing ($220,000), a Manor Pl footpath ($48,000), and reserve management plans for Victoria Domain ($30,000), Waikawa Foreshore ($70,000), and Shelly Beach North ($100,000).

Tito told councillors the $1m towards the park at the former landfill had already been allocated in the 2024-34 Long Term Plan.

This would be separate from a planned dog park and car park on the same 9-hectare site, which would be funded from other council budgets, Tito said.

“It’s going to be a rugged, rustic-type facility, so the maintenance will be much less than what you would normally have,” Tito said.

The council looked at the potential of wi-fi after discussions with groups like Wine Marlborough and the Marlborough Landscape Group, Tito said.

A small plane from nearby Omaka Aerodrome flies over the old landfill. Tito said the wi-fi, power and water supply had been planned so the park could host events, such as being a viewing area for the Omaka Air Show.

Councillor Benjamin Stace asked whether the council could get community groups involved with the project, helping with seating and planting, to save some funds.

Tito said a lot of the budget would be going towards trenching for the wi-fi, and the consent process.

Councillor Malcolm Taylor said that if the intention was to keep the park rustic, “we don’t need wi-fi in there”.

Tito told councillors that while about $122,000 had already been spent on the project, soil contamination from the underlying landfill found “closer to the surface than we were expecting” meant it had been delayed.

But with some improvements to the soil, the park could be up and running within 18 months, Tito said.

Soil mounds at the old landfill site. Tito said $200,000 had been saved by allowing nearby developers to dump their excess soil at the park site.

But Mayor Nadine Taylor, who attended the meeting online, said that instead of focusing on project details, councillors should be focused on whether the council could afford these projects.

“I am a little bit concerned that we're down in the weeds … we should be looking at this as a series of priorities, or indeed what we can afford as a council going forward,” Taylor said.

The park project had been approved when financial conditions were better, Taylor said. Now, with slower development rates, the Land Subdivision Reserve wasn't being replenished like it used to be.

Taylor also noted that when the park project was approved no one had costed what the ongoing maintenance costs would be, maintenance that would be rates-funded.

“I'm just interested in councillors' appetite to revisit a big project. Do we put one more on the books, or do we focus … on existing [parks]?”

Councillor Gerald Hope said that while he supported the “fantastic” project, he would “prefer to see [it] done at a later date”.

“It's an ambitious, and I think probably fitting use of that area … but I think for us to commit capital at this stage is probably not the best use of our reserves,” Hope said.

Councillor John Hyndman expressed concern about leachate – chemicals from the sealed landfill leaching into the soil – and asked whether it could turn into an ongoing problem.

Tito said that the council would continue to test the soil, but that after soil improvements she was “quite comfortable with where we sit with it”.

Council chief executive John Boswell said they would consider the councillors’ feedback and present proposals for each project at the council’s infrastructure and community facilities committee for councillors to vote on.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.