Te Awamutu and Kihikihi Community Board has accepted Waipā staff’s olive branch to resolve the standoff over changes in the War Memorial Park.
Board chair Ange Holt said while members had asked for work to be stopped and a full review undertaken, they now realised it would add costs to the project and take valuable time and resources.
Te Awamutu Memorial Park
It was time to “move forward in a conciliatory manner,” she said in her report to the board last week.
Meetings with council staff, the board and interested parties will take place over the coming weeks.
Community Services manager Brad Ward told the council’s Strategic Planning and Policy committee last month he was unsure what the board’s key concerns were and wanted to resolve them.
“It is considered a robust process was exercised during the development including obtaining the relevant endorsement and approvals,” he said in a report to the committee.
Ward stopped short of supporting a full review – costing between $30,000-$60,000 – saying the Concept Plan had already been through a robust consultation process.
The potential to resolve some outstanding issues and improve the Concept Plan by meeting the board and other opponents was appealing as an opportunity to foster positive relationships between staff, the board and the community, he said.
Opposition to the proposals has been a constant thorn in the council’s side since March 2020 when the first draft proposed removing heritage features including the pond, the gateways and the Peace Fountain.
Peace Fountain Te Awamutu Memorial Park
The board back then asked about bicycle parking, a fenced playground and the importance of making it a significant park through a nod to history.
In a revised concept the following year, staff kept the majority of the park’s heritage features – providing further text to reflect it as a place for reflection and remembrance – and retained a third of the pond.
But opposition ramped up the following year when a Concept Plan was adopted following community consultation with key stakeholders including mana whenua partners, Ngāti Apakura, Ngāti Ngāwaero, Maniapoto Trust Board and Waikato-Tainui.
Opponents argued the first plan for the memorial park – developed in 1948 – was for a memorial park with a tree for every fallen soldier, a scenic driveway, a playground, picnic areas, an artificial lake, paths and rustic footbridges commemorating the services.
A 1955 agreement only gave council permission to maintain the park, not rip it out and change it, they say.
Community Board chair Ange Holt last year called for the project to stop and go through a review which was ratified by the board.
Memorial Stone Arch, Te Awamutu Memorial Park.
Ward said despite social media comments, there were no plans to destroy the existing memorial stonework nor remove the duck pond. Water quality issues would be resolved by reducing the size of the pond, not removing it.
The plan would create a wetland environment to filter water before it enters the Mangaohoi Stream creating a bigger area for picnicking and events and restoring the natural springs.
Ward said staff regularly met with a consortium of local residents called the Te Awamutu War Memorial Park Maintenance Group but other people were operating outside this group.
The various iterations to the Concept Plan show staff have listened to feedback.
“The changes incorporated in the Concept Plan have been done in a manner that considers the interests of the wider community, partners and key stakeholders, whilst still respecting and retaining the park’s heritage and important purpose as a war memorial,” said Ward.
