Rope access technician Karl Boielle works to secure part of the high ropes course taking shape on Palmerston North's Railway Land.

The red tape that threatened to tie up Palmerston North's high-ropes project has been untangled and the central city confidence course is under construction.

Manawatū High Wire was a proposal Tekton director Todd Karipa first put the the city council more than two years ago, but the path to getting off the ground was not a smooth one.

The development needed approvals for use of the Railway Land Reserve and an agreement to lease the site near the skate park. It went through two rounds of public consultation, then resource and building consent processes.

But Karipa has finally cleared the decks, having extricated himself from work doing safety audits on other installations. He has added the finishing touches to the design and the project is weeks away from launching.

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The course is built around nine poles anchored 2.5 metres into the ground and standing 12.5m tall.

The challenges at the top are only accessible by ladder when the site is supervised.

Once harnessed up with helmets on, participants will be able to scale up the top half of the poles to test their fear of heights, their balance and agility, confidence in their own abilities and the trust they put in team-mates, including those with their hands on the ropes.

Its elements are being built by designer and installer Karl Ratahi, who has created courses in many countries, with industrial abseiler Karl Boielle.

Ratahi said the Palmerston North course was unusual in being so central and visible, rather than tucked away at a camp or outdoor pursuits centre.

MURRAY WILSON/STUFF Manawatū High Wire, Palmerston North's new high ropes course, takes shape near the skate park.

The above-ground challenges include a horizontal beam, tackled by people from opposite ends having to cross paths in the centre, a "postie's walk" across a high wire and "islands in the sky", a two-person leap across a series of platforms.

There is a trapeze option, which involves jumping out to swat a ball, leaving the person suspended to be lowered to the ground by team-mates, an abseil platform and a couple of features yet to be revealed.

Karipa said a tree and a few wind-damaged branches had been cleared to make the site safe, and he planned some additional planting and landscaping to enhance the existing shade and greenery.

Inquiries were already coming in from businesses and community groups interested in making a booking.

The plan was for hosting organised groups of up to 30 three days a week, with walk-in visitors at weekends.

One of the original submitters to the council in support of the course, Joseph Barker, said he was excited the project was going ahead.

"It's really good for the community across the board. It's a great training environment for people of all shapes, for building confidence in people young and old, and building relationships."

The project was not without its detractors, however, with the Railway Land Action Group losing the battle to protect the open, green space from commercial activity.

City councillor Lew Findlay, who was worried the structures would be a death trap for alcohol-fueled pranksters by night, said he was still worried about security, but encouraged to hear it was being built to make unsupervised use extremely difficult.