District’s great events are a ‘gold mine’ for tourism

I hope you all enjoyed some amazing weather and time with family over Easter. I certainly did, in between a few public events.

I’m spending this week in the electorate, with events ranging from the Electra Business Breakfast in Kā piti (always a great way to start the day) to visiting St Vincent de Paul in Levin.

Last week you will have seen Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Matt Doocey announced a new $5 million regional events promotion fund to help attract more visitors to the regions. The Regional Events Promotion Fund (REP) is available to regional tourism organisations and councils outside the main centres to help promote events to domestic visitors. I have written to both of our local mayors and councils with extra details, encouraging them to apply for some of the great events we have here on the coast.

I’ve had the privilege of seeing other regions of New Zealand in this role, and it is never lost on me that right here in Kā piti we are sitting on a gold mine. We might not have big surf, but we have a very safe swimming beach, built up with lots of options for shopping and dining. It’s hard to find another location like this (be it a lake or beach) that isn’t absolutely pumping. We should be too. We can make more of our beaches and our island, we can grow regional tourism and, in turn, our local economy. I’ll be working hard to make sure we do.

Our new national roads, like Transmission Gully, play a key part in opening up our region, whether day trips for Wellingtonians or cruise ship visitors, or connecting tourists from around New Zealand and across the world. Hopefully, you saw a fantastic recent announcement from Transport Minister Simeon Brown on the next steps in reversing the previous Government’s blanket speed reductions on state highways. We will be introducing a new Land Transport Rule to be signed by the end of 2024. Our move will ensure that when speed limits are set, the economic impacts — including travel times — and the views of road users and local communities are taken into account.

The ridiculous blanket speed limits were widely unpopular and the wrong tool that wasn’t targeted at where the actual risk lay. The Labour rule saw KCDC proposing one option of 30km/h limits on almost every single street in Paraparaumu. This isn’t where people are tragically losing their lives (like the 7 we sadly saw over Easter). I believe we should target the actual risk, not use blunt tools like this which ultimately just slow down our community and our economy.

If it is safe to do so, we will require blanket speed limit reductions to be reversed by the end of 2025, but on a road like Ō taki to Levin, the solution is to build a fast and safe alternative with four lanes, not tinker around the edges. That is exactly what we’ll do.

I’m optimistic about a bright future for our region, and I’ll be working hard to make sure we get it.