Ken keeps a finger on the pulse
Ken Bedford will be no stranger to most Waitara Focus readers.
A stalwart of local Search and Rescue for a great many years and now beginning his second term as chairman of the Clifton Community Board, Ken has devoted a large portion of his life to public service.
How long have you lived in the area, Ken?
I’ve been living in Onaero for about 17 years and in Waitara for the rest of my life, which would be about another 50-odd years.
And how long have you been involved in Search and Rescue?
I’ve been there ever since it was formed - don’t ask me how long ago that was! The Coastguard has in recent times taken over some of the inshore duties that we used to do but we’re still going strong.
Now, the Clifton ward - tell us about the board. What area does that cover?
Well, it covers virtually from the Tongaporutu River, to the Waitara boundary and then inland towards Tarata. It’s the single largest community board area in Taranaki. There are four elected members on the Community Board, and one appointed member from the council. We meet every six weeks.
Now the election is done and the board in place, what’s planned for the future?
The biggest thing we have coming up is the Community Plan, where we go out to consult with the community and local organisations to find out from them what they want to see happen over the next 10 years. This is easily one of the biggest projects we’ve done for many years, actually. We’ll have town hall meetings [to discuss matters like] housing, industry, utilities.
The community is going to have a very big input into this.
Also, there will be a lot of discussion about Significant Natural Area policy as it relates to farmers and their land, as well as issues related to forestry and heavy trucking and so on.
What do you like the most about the Waitara area?
The area is very very friendly. Everyone knows each other, everyone pitches in to help when there’s a problem to solve.
We’ve seen this recently, with the whole community getting involved with major issues and getting results.
It really is as simple as that the friendliness of the people and the co-operation of the people