Caves finally gets a make over

Mayor Rod Buhr at Wednesday night's Ordinary Meeting told councillors the frustration may be over.

"It's been a while coming but the first stage of redevelopment is set to go," he said.

A project manager has been appointed for this and other projects funded in part by the Cobbora restart money.

Councillors heard that four new state of the art cabins would be constructed, the old cabins made over and a new toilet block built.

"The sooner we get this done the better to get this back to premier tourist destination status," Cr Buhr said.

Cr David Grant urged council not to rush into it but supported the motion.

The mayor said the development will also include a large solar plant.

"This will be good for the environment, save council a lot of money and also become a tourist attraction in itself," he said.

Meanwhile, Renew Wellington a project to help fill some of the town's empty shops was also approved.

Cr Alison Conn supported a motion to bring a group to Wellington to help with attracting business.

The mayor said it was an innovation council was leading to get the CBD's 'heart beating' again.

"It may attract small pop-up shops, nic nac type shops, galleries and other shops similar to Forbes where this has happened successfully,"?he said.

"As I said to the Wellington Business Chamber, there is huge potential in this and we don't want to miss the opportunity and business here should see the economic benefits of this."

Council was also told the CBD beautification was getting closer to construction.

"We've put it out for tender and have agreed on the process of the way forward. We can most probably start this in the next few weeks," Cr Buhr revealed.