Raglan at a crossroads
More visitors and more houses are coming to Raglan — so what happens to the seaside vibe? Libby Wilson visits the coastal town.
In Raglan, one man has the keys to half the town, and he strolls through in the local uniform of shorts and jandals.
Kids wheelie on bikes in the seaside streets, and locals have their own etiquette for the singlelane bridge.
But things are changing in the Waikato west coast town as tourism and residential growth muscle in.
The single biggest project is a a 550-home subdivision planned for Rangitahi Peninsula – and Raglan will need to work out how to keep its small-town charm.
It wasn’t always so loved as a day-trip or tourist destination, going by Waikato District Councillor Lisa Thomson’s experience.
When she was at Raglan Area School in the 1980s, people used to say ‘‘That stink place. Who would want to live there?’’
Thomson, the youngest of 13, grew up in Te Ma¯ kaka, near the Aotea Harbour and whakapapas to Nga¯ ti Ma¯ hanga Houroa.
She’s spent time away from Raglan, but now lives in a boardand-batten home overlooking the mouth of Wha¯ ingaroa Harbour.
Her Saturday trips to Ruapuke Artisan Bread can last all morning, while she chats with ‘‘anyone who comes past’’.
When her daughter, Charlie, was about seven, she said ‘‘Mum, I’m half Ma¯ ori, I’m half Australian, but I’m whole Raglan, eh?
Thomson doesn’t know how to stem the tide of development and visitor numbers, but has heard jokes about toll gates or a ‘‘we’re full’’ sign at the top of the divvy.
However, Raglan tends to attract entrepreneurial people who find solutions, she said, like Xtreme Zero Waste, born out of a landfill closure.
It’s a challenge for a small community to find a future that’s sustainable for everyone, particularly for residents, she said.
‘‘We value the visitors, because they bring opportunity and we’re able to run our businesses. Of course, for locals, [we are] finding and maintaining that sense of space, that we belong here.’’
Visitors could get pointers on ‘‘how we roll’’ in Raglan, Thomson said.
That includes courtesy at the one-way bridge, taking care of your rubbish, and caring for the sewerage system to avoid spills into Wha¯ ingaroa Harbour.
Blockages are a big cause of spills, Thomson said. Council staffers have pulled colostomy
bags, curtains and jean legs out of treatment station tanks.
She’s stoked that council investment – through a districtwide targeted rate increase for wastewater – has reduced overflows into the moana.
That’s also good news for Bob McLeod, the guy in the shorts and jandals, jangling a set of keys.
‘‘If you can’t come here and swim [in the harbour], you can’t come and eat, you can’t come and fish. That’s Raglan closed down,’’ the Raglan Community Board chairman said.
McLeod moved back to Raglan when he inherited the family home and now lives beside it. He’s climbed Mt Karioi and bombed off three iterations of the Raglan footbridge.
His many keys were accumulated because he’s president of the Raglan Lions club, part of the local fire brigade, the list goes on.
From the fire station on a Tuesday afternoon, he points out a brick house which is due to be replaced by nine apartments – one example of infill development around town.
There are changes coming and local folk are getting together this weekend to plan what they want for Raglan’s future. That’s through community plan Raglan Naturally, which McLeod says is about community needs and wants, not ‘‘whimsical, I went to university and I understand economics’’.
Waikato District Council will soon also create a blueprint for towns around the district.
Council will then need to look at potential solutions through multiple lenses – does it fit transport, economic, and other goals – and where the money could come from.
McLeod’s street will be the site of one of Raglan’s big changes, due to a subdivision expected to bring 550 more homes over the next 10 to 20 years. Opotoru Road will turn from a dead end into the way to the Rangitahi Project subdivision, where a collection of cranes and construction machinery is working.
Sophie Peacocke’s father David bought the Rangitahi Peninsula land ‘‘with the vision that it would be a beautiful place for people to live in the future.’’
Peacocke does sales and marketing for the project and said it will have an impact on Raglan, but so do day-trippers.
Raglan is home, she said, and her family wants to protect its character – they love everything from the ‘‘raw natural beauty of the coast’’ to the yoga teachers and cafes.
Rangitahi will feature native plantings, and homes will need to have the right look and feel for Raglan: ‘‘big and small, different colours, diverse – just like the community’’.
So far, almost 100 sections have sold – about half of them to locals – for prices from $200,000 to $550,000.
Peacocke doesn’t see it changing Raglan’s population makeup, saying the town attracts people who share its eco focus.
McLeod, however, predicts prices mean both adults will have to be working. That would mean less time for community volunteering, he said, and more demand for fast-food outlets and larger supermarkets, which the wider Raglan community doesn’t want.
Other changes around town have challenged the traditional Raglan lifestyle – at the wharf, for example, as boaties and businesses jockey for parking spaces.
Raglan’s an amazing place with an active community, Waikato District Council general manager of community growth Clive Morgan said, and the world wants to visit.
‘‘You can’t lock [communities] up behind walls. It’s about just ensuring to the best extent possible that the services are going to cater for those population fluctuations and [council and the community] work together and help manage it.
‘‘The risk that we absolutely want to avoid is that we move out of step with the community in terms of planning and development.’’
The Government’s also lending a hand, having awarded Raglan just over $800,000 from the Tourism Infrastructure Fund to improve public toilets and car parks.
Other work for the future is under way, Morgan said, including an upgrade at the wastewater treatment plant, some extra reservoir storage, and a new bulk water main driven largely by the Rangitahi Project.
In 2017, council commissioned a study into Raglan’s visitor infrastructure.
It points to businesses growing, but struggling with the seasonal nature of tourism, and estimates there were about 36,000 visitors a week over the 2016/17 peak.
Hamilton & Waikato Tourism is eyeing future opportunities for the town it described as follows: ‘‘Raglan, with its bohemian, surfy vibe provides a unique attraction in the Waikato. The town has a very strong sense of community, with collective input into all aspects of its existence.’’
Mike Rarere moved to Raglan about eight years ago with his wife, before house prices shot up.
‘‘Our daughter left home and we wanted to live by the sea, in the bush,’’ he said.
He’s been managing the Raglan Community House for two-anda-half years and says the town is out of the way enough to keep a seaside vibe. The surf break is a taonga – ‘‘the best in the world – there you go, I put it out there’’ – which will continue to draw tourists, he said.
Many of them are alternative, environmentally conscious, stay for six months or a year, and are a big part of the culture. Raglan kids are free-range, and people bring in lemons and grapefruit to the community house – ‘‘It’s very oldschool Kiwi.’’
There’s a strong Ma¯ ori presence, partly due to the legacy of people such as Eva Rickard, who was famously arrested when protesting for land rights at the Raglan Golf Course.
However, finding affordable rental housing is a challenge, he said, as it’s not uncommon for houses to be kept for Airbnb, or for friends and family to use.
‘‘The population’s still very Raglan. It’s very eco-friendly, west coast, surf-oriented. It’s very much jandals, bare feet. If the surf’s up, it’s very hard to find a tradie.’’
‘‘The population’s still very Raglan. It’s very eco-friendly, west coast, surf-oriented.’’