“The heartbeat of the lake has gone”, says the man petitioning Rotorua Lakes Council to help get the dry-docked and in liquidation Lakeland Queen back cruising.

Chairman of the recently formed Save Our Iconic Lakeland Queen Society, Marinus Koppe, made the comment at a council meeting on Wednesday morning.

“How did this happen?” he asked, before saying he was not looking for an answer to that right then.

“We are here to urge [the] council to assist us to bring back this icon of over 37 years.”

The paddle steamer first dry-docked in October 2021 having hibernated during the pandemic. Since then, the lakefront was redeveloped and the Lakeland’s jetty was found to be in disrepair.

The cost of a new jetty was finalised in 2022 and the owner, Terry Hammond, previously told Local Democracy Reporting the council confirmed he would need to pay the $345,000 to $460,000 cost.

He said he was told he would then need to gift the jetty to iwi and Te Arawa Lakes Trust would lease it back to his business.

The business went into liquidation last month.

Koppe told elected members the tourist attraction put millions of dollars into the Rotorua community when it operated and helped promote the city to “many thousands”.

“Visitors still ask, ‘where is that paddle steamer?’.

“We hope it is not going to the scrap yard.”

Koppe said the society believed the council obstructed access to the Lakeland Queen jetty during the lakefront redevelopment and referred to the Te Arawa Lakes Settlement Act that enabled jetty owners to use, occupy, access, repair and maintain, remove or demolish at any time.

He called on the council to shorten its new walkway to provide the steamer access. He also said it needed to reconnect services to the jetty, such as power, and upgrade both the council and the Lakeland’s jetties.

This would enable any potential buyers to “come forward”.

Koppe later clarified during the meeting he was not in touch with the liquidators and was representing those in the community wanting to see the “icon back into the lake”.

Save Our Iconic Lakeland Queen Society chairman Marinus Koppe at the meeting on Wednesday. Photo / Laura Smith.

He said he would appreciate an “around-the-table discussion”.

Rotorua mayor Tania Tapsell said clarification on what was said was needed to check accuracy would consider the petition and provide a response in writing “shortly”.

Infrastructure and environment general manager Stavros Michael previously said it did not pay to build jetties used exclusively by commercial operators.

He said it had done what it could, including trying to secure government funding, waiving slippage charges since 2021, making repairs to the old jetty, commissioning concept designs for a replacement one and offering to cover consenting costs.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.