Ange Holt
The Te Awamutu War Memorial Park Concept Plan is still high on the community board’s agenda. Any updates from staff are followed with keen interest and comments from the community are carefully considered.
We have been approached by individuals and groups who are expressing ongoing concern about the plans for the War Memorial Park. I would like to reassure you that the planned works at this time includes the creation of a heritage maintenance plan, a vegetation plan and upgrading the current playground. Further funding will need to be made available before any of the more major changes, such as the creation of a wetland and the central board walk occur.
Memorial park in Te Awamutu
We had been asked by some members of the community to confirm who owned the land in the park. At our May meeting we received a report to clarify council ownership of the various titles and what the land use was. Waipā District Council own the land and all parcels are deemed “recreation reserve”. This means that under the Reserves Act 1977 this land can be used for any sort of recreational purpose. However, there is a clause in the Act that states: “where scenic, historic, archaeological, biological, geological, or other scientific features or indigenous flora or fauna or wildlife are present on the reserve, those features or that flora or fauna or wildlife shall be managed and protected to the extent compatible with the principal or primary purpose of the reserve”.
We felt that this clause supported the fact that the historic features in the park are to be managed and protected, not removed. As we are not legal experts we asked if this clause and its implications could be clarified for us. Legal advice has been provided to us by council. I have tried to seek advice from outside council but without funding to pay this is proving difficult. If anyone knows a lawyer with expertise in the Reserves Act, please do contact me.
Proposed changes include the removal of the stone bridge and all the rockery and paths above the pond. Based on community feedback and the original submissions that were received by council this is not a supported change.
The pond does need some love and attention, to ensure the water quality is good before it heads down to the stream. There are some very good and economical ideas coming forward that deserve to be investigated before part of the pond is removed.
Along with the excessive cost, there are also a number of other changes that community are not keen on. There are by far more people commenting to us that they do not want the major changes made to the Park, than anyone supporting it.
With this in mind Community Board will next month vote to request a review of the Te Awamutu Park Concept Plan.
- This version of Ange Holt’s column contains corrections to factual errors which appeared in the print version in the Te Awamutu News.
