Flaxmere primed for 120 new houses

Missing some bling? It might be worth calling in to the Lower Hutt police station.

A large amount of jewellery handed in to police in May is still unclaimed and, before it is sold off at auction, officers want to find its rightful owners.

Two lots of jewellery totalling about 30 to 40 pieces were handed in separately.

One lot of seven rings and two necklaces appeared to be of particularly high quality, police said. Flaxmere is in store for 120 new homes after the Hastings District Council agreed to support a proposed village project for the area.

At a full council meeting last week, councillors unanimously voted in favour of supporting the proposal of Wainga¯kau Village, which gives the go-ahead for public consultation on 76 co-housing houses and 44 standard houses being built on 15.5 hectares of vacant land

A second lot of mixed jewellery had been dumped, and the pieces could be from one or multiple burglaries within the past year.

Items are usually kept for only three months before being auctioned off.

Constable Dan Corderoy, from the Hutt Valley tactical crime unit, which focuses on burglaries, said it was timely to remind people to secure their property and record items of value with photographs, or by taking down the serial numbers of items such as in Kingsley-Chatham in Flaxmere, Hastings.

On September 26, Ma¯ori authority Te Taiwhenua O Heretaunga chief executive George Reedy and project manager Emma Horgan presented the business case for Wainga¯ kau Village to the council, and it was decided a mix of cohousing and conventional housing would be the preferred option.

Reedy said pricing was expected to be between $140,000 and $375,000.

Forty per cent of the development, including Te Aranga Marae, electronics and pushbikes.

If items were lost or stolen, they should be reported to police as soon as possible.

Anyone who has lost jewellery, or had it stolen, in the Hutt Valley area in the past year is urged to contact Lower Hutt police station.

The two lots are held by the police property office under reference numbers 17/321 and 17/342. You will be asked for a description of items and proof of ownership. would operate as green space.

Additional development was proposed for a co-op community centre and cafe, a small business incubator, a wellbeing centre, a community food forest, and a resident carpark.

Despite voting in support of the proposal, councillor Simon Nixon told the meeting he had concerns the project could shut down other development possibilities in the area.

Councillor Henare O’Keefe, whose ward is Flaxmere, told the meeting: ‘‘This is about bringing on board the hearts and minds of the community and moving them forward at their pace.’’

Horgan said Flaxmere’s housing situation had led to high crime rates and a low quality of life for residents.

‘‘The Wainga¯ kau Village project demonstrates a new model for building homes which are part of a tightknit community, rather than an isolated castle,’’ she said.

A public talk about the village is on at 6pm on Monday at Te Aranga Marae. Construction was scheduled to begin in 2019.