Saltash Street

New Zealand has experienced its share of economic booms. The development of Saltash Street occurred during one such period.

Saltash Street, in upper Vogeltown, was originally surveyed in 1972 and much of the street was zoned light-industrial. The street was named after Saltash, a town in Cornwall, England. Known as "the Gateway to Cornwall", it is the home of the famed Royal Albert Rail Bridge designed by Brunel that connects Plymouth and Devon to East Cornwall over the river Tamar.

Cornish Properties was the initial developer of the subdivision. Arthur Cornish began as a small retailer in the 1950s. By the early 1970s his company, Cornish Lamphouse, was a conglomerate of smaller, mostly retail, businesses. The largest part of the company was a property development arm, which spent a lot of time raising funds from the so-called mum and dad investors. Cornish brochures and newsletters were common, advertising the company's "savings clubs". Part finance company, part property syndicator, the company used the money to purchase and develop industrial properties. The company bought the land around Saltash St, intending to develop and sell.

But a credit squeeze saw property developers begin to fail. Many people will remember the collapse of JBL. Cornish Lamphouse, contrary to the image it portrayed to the public, had its own difficulties and was about to fail. Trying to avert a financial disaster, it was taken over by government administrators in July, 1974. It had sold only a few of the undeveloped sections in Saltash St.

Soon after, New Plymouth company Riddick Bros and Still purchased the remaining sections. During the next few years, it built a few industrial properties and leased them. Other sections were left undeveloped. With the recovery of property prices, Riddick Bros and Still was able to sell its developments and the undeveloped sections. Other developers eventually completed the industrial sub-division.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.