Shelly Bay development

Information relating to a proposed Shelly Bay development.

In 2017 the Council agreed to enter into an agreement to sell and lease land with Shelly Bay Limited so a planned development of housing and public space could proceed.

On 1 September 2023, the Council was informed that Shelly Bay Taikuru Limited (SBTL) had sold their privately owned land at Shelly Bay to Green Tree Holdings Ltd, a company owned by Sir Peter Jackson and Dame Fran Walsh.

The planned housing development at Shelly Bay is no longer going ahead, and the Council has been informed that the new private landowner's immediate goal is to start the landscaping and replanting work required to return Shelly Bay to its natural state before welcoming Wellingtonians back onto the land.

Council-owned land

The Council-owned land at Shelly Bay will stay within the Council's ownership and will be reinstated as lawn before any long-term plans are explored.

Once the grass is grown, the site will be reopened to the public, except for the former Shed 8 site, which will remain closed to the public due to health and safety issues that remain following the fire in June 2023.

Timeline

Background

On 27 September 2017, the Council agreed to enter into an agreement to sell and lease land with Shelly Bay Limited as part of a planned development by The Wellington Company in partnership with Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust (PNBST).

The Council agreed (in principle) to sell (0.3h) and lease (0.6h), a total of 0.9 hectares of land.

View the Council’s full decisions:

Resource consent application for Shelly Bay

On 18 April 2017, resource consent for the Shelly Bay development was approved under the Housing and Housing Accord and Special Housing Areas Act 2013 (HASHAA).

In December 2018, the Court of Appeal quashed the resource consent approval finding that the Council had erred in its application of the law in relation to one section of the HASHAA and instructed Council to reconsider the application. Three Commissioners with expertise respectively in law, engineering and planning have been appointed by the Chair of the Regulatory Processes Committee to reconsider the resource consent application, which is now underway. This is in accordance with the Council’s standard process and delegations.

In line with the Court of Appeal’s recommendation, three Commissioners with expertise respectively in law, engineering and planning were appointed by the Chair of the Regulatory Processes Committee to reconsider the resource consent application. This consent was granted in October 2019 and you can view the documents relating to this below.

Decision of independent hearing panel appointed by Wellington City Council (632KB PDF)