Church funding ‘exciting’
A new tourism funding grant to protect Tekapo¯’s iconic Church of the Good Shepherd brings to more than $1.3 million the funding to meet tourism demands in the Mackenzie District in the last year.
Minister of Tourism Kelvin Davis announced on Friday the latest round of funding grants worth more than $14.9 million for regional councils across the country to meet tourism demands in their districts.
The Mackenzie District Council was granted $294,000 from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) Tourism Infrastructure Fund, for the construction of a new carpark and walkways to redirect vehicle and pedestrian access around the Church of the Good Shepherd.
Friday’s announcement of the $294,000 fillip for the council means the Mackenzie District has received more than $1.3m in tourism funding from the Government in the past 12 months. In late 2016, the council was granted $405,000 for new pay-per-use and free toilets in Tekapo, which were opened in March this year, from the Government’s regional mid-sized tourism facilities grant.
In June 2017, the council received $642,000 from the same grant. The grant included $100,000 for new toilets at the Lake Pukaki lookout. Another $275,000 would be spent on toilets at The Pines camping ground, and $267,000 would be spent on toilets at Lakeside Dr, Lake Tekapo.
Mackenzie District mayor Graham Smith said the funding was ‘‘tremendous news’’. ‘‘It’s really exciting.’’ Smith, council staff and the church’s vicar, Andrew McDonald, met on December 5 to discuss immediate options to help reduce the number of tourists around the church.
Construction of a temporary fence to protect the church got under way on Wednesday. Smith said a permanent barrier around the church, would replace the temporary fence and would be a lot closer to the church than the temporary fence.
‘‘The church felt that over the Christmas and New year period they couldn’t cope’’ and immediate action needed to be taken to protect the church and the surrounding area, he said.
The application to MBIE proposed a new carpark for buses on the western side of the Tekapo¯ footbridge, to encourage pedestrian traffic rather than vehicular traffic to the church.
Work on the project was expected to start in March next year.
He said while all of the funding throughout the year was good, it was lumpy and there was still a need for a more consistent way of funding tourism infrastructure such as a tourist levy.
‘‘It is important to note this is co-funding and some of the burden of this does fall on ratepayers.’’
‘‘As a starting point we are cofunding carparks, toilets and other facilities in popular visitor spots from Kaimaumau, north of Kaitaia, to Lumsden in Southland,’’ Davis said.
‘‘It includes co-funding for a new carpark and toilets to support the growth of tourists at Mt Taranaki’s Pouakai Crossing trail; facilities at Blackball on the West Coast to support the planned Paparoa and Pike 29 Memorial tracks, and a new carpark and walkways at Lake Tekapo’s Church of the Good Shepherd.
‘‘We need to make sure we have the basics right – so that visitors continue to have high quality experiences...,’’ Davis said.