ARC winding up seabed licence fees

11 June 2009

The Auckland Regional Council (ARC) will phase out seabed licence fees which are currently paid by three Auckland marinas over the next four years.

The current charges will be reduced by 25 per cent in each of the four years, starting this financial year.

Auckland Regional Council Chairman Michael Lee welcomes the change.

“I am pleased that we are getting rid of a system which is inequitable and which has seen some boaties unfairly lumped with charges,” Says Mr Lee.

“The seabed licence fees were a transitional arrangement that was to be replaced with a coastal occupation charging regime. Unfortunately this has not happened as quickly as we would have liked so we have decided to take action.”

Under the current system, seabed licence fees are paid by those marinas established prior to the enactment of the Resource Management Act.

In the Auckland region the three marinas which pay the seabed licence fees to the ARC are Half Moon Bay, West Park and Bucklands Beach Yacht Club.

“We expect the marinas to pass on the price reduction to boaties and we will be ensuring they do.”

The seabed licence fees collected from the marinas are used to fund coastal projects, through ARC’s Coastal Enhancement Fund (CEF). The grant funds coastal infrastructure projects, projects which improve navigational safety and which enhance the marine environment.

Cr Lee says the ARC is investigating alternatives for future coastal project funding.

ENDS

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