With elections coming closer, a little reflection upon
what has happened in our district in the last 3 years Roading has had a lot of
activity, the Spedding road link, the Porowini Ave extension, the new Lower
Hatea River crossing all have assisted in reducing congestion.
Significant expenditure on waste water works, upgrading
of the Kioreroa waster water plant plus the Hatea and Okara pump stations
preventing uncontrolled waste water spills.
Smaller items, but important nevertheless have been the
John Street car park refurbishment, revitalized town basin, the heritage art
trail, the Hub and the Canopy bridge.
With the completion of the new bridge the construction of
the walk/ cycleway around the inner Harbour is now under construction plus
seven new sportsfields are under development including a needed third turf for
Hockey.
Last year our Capex spend was 90% on hard infrastructure,
10% on soft which includes social infrastructure such as parks and community
services.
After successfully hosting the RWC in 2011 we now also
have 4 games in the under 20FIFA World Cup games.
On a local level we have had road and safety
improvements, the Sandspit ownership transfer,walkways upgrades and the
Tutukaka Marina boat ramp reconstruction to name a few.
But there is more that needs to be done, the car parking
issue around the boat ramp in summer, the construction of more walkways (
including making access to the Mermaid Pools safer, with appropriate signage to
acknowledge history and safety issues), the sea wall and skatepark in Ngunguru ,
and progressing the cycleway proposal from our Ratepayers association.
Our submission on the recreational and commercial fishing
limits focusses on the importance of fishing on our coast, and the need to get
balanced proportions in cuts if needed from both sectors.
The economic benefit and opportunity from an enhanced
fisheries in the sport sector is too often overlooked, the value to our economy
of a fish caught by a visitor compared by the commercial sector is many fold
more and should be better acknowledged and taken into account when we are just
looking at the economics of this proposal.
With larger planes (Q 300) now flying twice a day into
Whangarei, which will increase from February to four times a day, we are
getting better connected to the rest of the world with prices coming down to a
more realistic level .
The next three years will see the completion of our
Integrate Transport Strategy, continued waste water plant upgrades, water
projects to ensure drought resilience, the Town Basin car park to park
conversion, upgrades of coastal structures, CBD "sense of place"
improvements and a lot more positive projects.
The Tutukaka Coast PolarBear festival organized by
Tutukaka Coast Promotions has been very successful and no doubt this annual
event will grow bigger every year. The timing is fantastic, when business
activities are at a annual low, this event injects a "taste of
summer" and a strengthened community.
Well done to everyone involved!
