The Wānaka Upper Clutha Community Board (WUCCB) has made a strong bid to retain the current Wānaka jetty until its replacement is completed.

Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) had recommended the damaged Wānaka town centre jetty - which staff said was at the end of its “serviceable life” - be removed at the end of the summer.

The ageing jetty has been repeatedly damaged after severe weather events, most recently in November, and continuing to maintain it would likely cost between $20K and $25K per year, QLDC staff told the board at Thursday’s (February 12) meeting.

WUCCB members, who pointed out that a new jetty could be some years away, said they were reluctant to leave Wānaka in limbo.

The jetty was left damaged and partially submerged after severe weather in November. PHOTO: Wānaka App 

WUCCB chair Simon Telfer said it was a “much-loved piece of community infrastructure” - one which is popular with both tourists and locals.

“There’s a lot of people that have kids who manu [jump] off there, grandparents who look at the eels, everything else like that,” he said.

“We don’t want it to be a no-mans land for three or four years without something down there.”

Calls for a new, upgraded jetty have increased in the past couple of years, and it is one of the WUCCB’s listed priorities. RMM Architects presented four concept designs for new, more inventive interpretations last year.

Read more: Creative designs for ‘long overdue’ new jetty

Because there is established support for a new jetty aligned with the end of Helwick Street, work on a replacement could progress while the existing jetty remains in place, deputy mayor Quentin Smith said.

One of RMM Landscape Architects’ concept designs for a new Wānaka jetty. IMAGE: Supplied

The WUCCB voted to recommend that work progress on the new jetty immediately, while keeping the existing jetty in the meantime, with a desired completion of the new jetty within 24 months.

It will be up to the full council to make the final decision on the future of the jetty.