Volunteers wanting to restore the walking track between West End and Ōtarawairere have formed a registered charitable trust and made a formal offer to Whakatāne District Council.

The offer is to reinstate the two slip sites on Ngā Tapuwae o Toi walkway at no cost to the council.

Toi’s Track Restoration Trust was incorporated on May 26, and lists Angus Robson, Austin Oliver, Dave Rondon and Quin Kingi as trustees.

The trust has spent around $25,000 for a track reinstatement design for the two damaged parts of the track, by New Zealand track design specialists Frame Group.

The offer has been made independently of the council’s Request for Proposals released on April 29 on a Government procurement website and differs substantially from stipulations of the request.

The council’s Request for Proposals seeks a solution that addresses the “complex geotechnical, environmental, cultural and health and safety challenges of the site”, and which can be delivered and maintained without reliance on council funding.

Robson said some of the stipulations listed in the Request for Proposal were beyond the scope of the volunteer group, and he considered them unnecessary for reinstating the track, which was why they had made the separate offer.

Among the preconditions of the request is that the respondent hold public liability insurance of not less than $5 million and professional indemnity insurance of not less than $500,000.

They, and all subcontractors, must also be SHE or Totika Health and Safety pre-qualified.

They must demonstrate, to the council’s satisfaction, that sufficient funding is confirmed to complete construction and have a credible funding plan in place for future maintenance.

Robson said the volunteers wished to work more co-operatively with the council.

The trust is prepared to pay for the track reinstatement and carry out maintenance on it. However, funding is through private donors.

They would welcome the council contributing a small portion of the $451,000 Tourism Infrastructure Fund from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment awarded to it in August 2023 to repair the track after the first slip occurred.

The council’s community experience general manager Alexandra Pickles said before the funding could be released, the council must provide the ministry with evidence of community consultation and its outcome, and evidence that all necessary consents, permissions, permits and approvals to deliver the project have been secured.

A deadline of July 30 was in place for these conditions to be met.

“This revised timeframe was received from MBIE on May 26 and aligns with the last council meeting in July, at which elected members will consider a report on the [Request for Proposals] process and approve the way forward before council responds to MBIE.”