Council funds archeological work
Pressure to complete new housing projects in Cambridge has prompted authorities to front-foot mandatory archeological investigations.
Waipa District Council has set aside $10,000 to complete the work across land tagged for property development in the north of the town.
Waipa Mayor Jim Mylchreest admitted the move was unusual but believed it would avoid a similar situation in north Waikato where human remains were discovered near construction of the new Waikato Expressway.
‘‘We have a situation where there is huge demand for people wanting to get underway on their developments. This is probably the most sufficient way of doing the [archeological] work, by checking multiple developments in one area.
‘‘So rather than each individual developer undertaking their own investigation of a site, council would get on and do the whole area.’’
Mylchreest said the work would determine whether the council could give the developer ‘‘a tick to say there’s nothing there’’ or whether there were any sites of significance which needed to be further researched.
The move to set up the fund had come out of submissions to the council’s annual plan.
Mylchreest said he expected a tender process to follow to select someone to complete the work.
‘‘It’s a figure of $10,000 for the work. I would really think of it as a routine job. If there was anything significant, if there was a major historical find that was important to the district and the nation, I would expect that to be reported back to council.
‘‘Otherwise it should all proceed as a matter of course.’’
The council’s Acting Manager, Infrastructure Development, Richard Bax, said the archeological investigations would include the undeveloped blocks, about 20 properties, between Victoria Rd/Waikato Expressway/Taylor/Swayne roads and west of Victoria to Abergeldie Way.
He said an archaeologist would complete a report recommending what should be preserved, what should be investigated, documented, and then destroyed during the development process.
‘‘This is considered by mana whenua and the Historic Places Trust and then HPT issues an authority.’’
Bax said the council would not bill developers for the work as the identification and preservation of important archaeological features was a benefit to all ratepayers.