RANGITIKEILINE BULLETIN

rangitikei DISTRICT council

New Zealand War Memorial Museum at Le Quesnoy, France

One of the significant encounters for New Zealand troops in the First World War was the liberation of Le Quesnoy in France on 4 November 1918, with no bombardment. The New Zealand Memorial Trust is raising funds for the purchase of the historic former Mayor’s residence in the town, to provide a museum, to be open by 4 November 2018. There is at least one soldier from the Rangitikei buried at Le Quesnoy – Lawrence John O’Brien, who was born in Marton and whose parents lived in Mangaweka. Council agreed in principle to some level of financial support, gauged by conversations at the upcoming Regional Mayoral Forum. Council will talk with other interested parties such as the RSA.

Marton skate-park progress

Council is finalising the contract with Rich Landscape for the design and construction of the skate-park on Marton’s Centennial Park and will enter into an agreement with Marton Rotary Club to release their funding to support the project. Athol Sanson, Parks & Reserves Team Leader, will manage the project. A project steering committee will be established, including Pania and Raymond Hemopo, a representative from each of Marton Rotary, Project Marton and the Marton Community Committee together with two local young people nominated by the Principal of Rangitikei College.

Traffic and Parking bylaw

Having adopted the new traffic and parking bylaw, Council asked the Community Boards and Community Committees to confirm whether they wished the present parking restrictions remain. Some changes were requested in Marton and Bulls, all of which will be publicly notified. An accessibility car-park will be established near the front of Council’s Marton Administration building.

Progress with Civil Defence Emergency Management Improvement Plan

Radio and telephone capability is being upgraded. Protocols have been developed for alerting the after-hours call centre so that emergency call management is managed in-house. Discussions are under way with the Whanganui District Health Board for the use of the Taihape Hospital Building as an emergency Operations Centre and Welfare Centre. Consideration is being given to the fit-out required for this. 2,000 sandbags have been purchased and a cordon management plan included in the Marton Flood Action Plan.

Sale of car park behind the Bulls Medical Centre, Criterion Street

Following an advertised call for offers, Council has agreed to sell this car park to the Bulls Medical Centre. This will support the intended expansion of the Centre.

Rural Travel Fund

The Rural Travel Fund is an annual grant from Sport New Zealand to assist with expenses in getting junior teams to local sports competitions. Recently Sport New Zealand informed Council that the level of funding would continue for the next two years. Council decided to lobby Sport New Zealand to increase the grant, in recognition of the increasing costs of travel.

Increased delegations to Community Boards and Community Committees

Council asked Community Boards and Community Committees to consider its proposals to have them decide on applications to the Community Initiatives Fund (rather than having the Finance/Performance Committee do it). This was agreed to – on a trial basis for 2018. In addition, user groups at the Bulls Domain, Marton’s Centennial Park and Hunterville’s Queens Park will be established as a subcommittee of the relevant Community Committee, as is the case for Taihape Memorial Park. In addition, Bulls and Turakina Community Committees will aim for increased engagement with the smaller communities within their respective wards.

MoU organisations

For some years, Council has had a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with various community trusts to provide a range of community services and events in Bulls, Marton and Taihape. Council has reviewed the base MoU and will now consider work plan proposals for 2018/19.

Encouraging development within the District

Council considered a revised draft of a policy which linked development agreements (an arrangement permitted by the Local Government Act) with rates remissions. There will be a workshop scheduled to consider this topic further: Council has a particular interest in incentivising construction of new homes in the District.