Funding for cricket, road seal

Fitzherbert Park and residents of Forest Hill Rd are the big winners in the Palmerston North City Council’s revised budget for 2017-18.

The Manawatu Cricket Association will receive $155,000 toward its project to return Fitzherbert Park to premier status as early as this summer.

And after years of hearing submissions about a dangerous unsealed road, the council has agreed to spend $500,000 strengthening and sealing a steep and windy Aokautere road.

Manawatu Cricket development and operations manager Dave Meiring said he was ‘‘hugely thrilled’’ the council had agreed to contribute such a large amount of money in one financial year.

The association would be applying for grants and sponsorship to raise another $134,000 for the park’s development.

The plan included grass practice facilities and nets, an area for scorers, officials and press, an electronic scoreboard, and upgrading of the Bruce Turner Pavilion.

The council turned down a request for $20,000 for sight screens.

Meiring was optimistic most of the work could be done by October, in time for the summer season.

Completion of the practice facilities, depending on how much excavation, ground work and grass growing was required, could take the longest.

The goal of the improvements was to return Fitzherbert Park to premier status, suitable for fourday first class games, and international women’s matches.

Mayor Grant Smith said Manawatu’s 4000-plus cricketers had had ‘‘a fairly raw deal’’ in the past

and it was time to fix that.

Smith also promoted the work on Forest Hill Rd in Aokautere, abandoning a proposal to spend $220,000 a year over three years in favour of a one-off $500,000 fix for about 2km of the road in 2017-18.

He said this year was the third time he had heard pleas for improving safety there, including reports of close calls that could have been fatal.

‘‘If somebody dies there, I would never forgive myself. It is a pretty horrible piece of road.’’

Forest Hill Rd resident Blair Taylor said it was ‘‘awesome news’’ that the council had finally listened.

He said the gravel road used by about 45 vehicles a day was steep and poorly maintained, with blind bends and recently, a significant slip undermining the edge at one point.

It was deeply rutted, with steep dropoffs, and in summer, dust reduced visibility and compounded the dangers.

The final check of the budget will be done at a committee of council meeting on June 19, with the full council approving the rates rise, expected to be just under 3 per cent, on June 26.