Its draft Annual Plan, now open for public comment, includes putting aside $1 million a year for three years to help provide, “public access facilities in association with a breakwater for the (Lyttelton) marina project”.

The allocation of money is a departure for the Council because Lyttelton is outside its boundaries. The port town is in Banks Peninsula District Council.

The Council, however, believes most of those who launch their power boats and trailer-yachts at Lyttelton are city residents. It is proposing that its “investment” in public facilities at Lyttelton produce a return of at least 5 per cent a year.

And before any of this money is spent, the Councillors want to see and debate a full report about the project. Council staff have been asked to identify priorities and their costs, to show how much each option would cost to maintain, and to look for other sources of outside funding or finance.

Mayor Garry Moore told last month’s Annual Plan Council meeting that the building of a marina is a commercial operation, not one for the Council, but he hoped that by “showing willing to provide some public facilities around it, it will be a spur for someone to get on and build the marina”

A question on this funding for boating facilities in Lyttelton is included in the opinion survey on Page 9 of this edition of City Scene.