Darfield: Little glitz but steady growth
system in Darfield, you’d be talking about spending $25,000 for every house. Why would you do that if there’s no good environmental or health reason saying you’ve got to?’’
It is easy for outsiders to get a misunderstanding. Darfield is not being left behind by the modern world. Instead, says Broughton, the township is enjoying a positive if unflashy period of growth, simply doing its job as a rural service centre.
It has a number of solid local employers which you can see on the entry and exits to the town. At one end, there is the brickworks and the seed cleaning business. At the other is the sawmill and, of course, the really hulking presence of the Fonterra milk powder plant opened in 2013.
The dryers are the largest in New Zealand, indeed the world.
Broughton says Darfield was a natural location for the $500m plant because it sits on the railway line at the junction of two state highways. There is an easy electricity link to Lake Coleridge and Darfield is at the centre of the area expected to benefit from the Central Plains Water (CPW) irrigation scheme.
But for Darfield residents, the importance of the factory was not just about the financial boost it created – although during construction, with hundreds of extra workers in town for several years, the motels were always full and it was like an extra day’s of trading for local shops.
‘‘It is the kind of thing that builds confidence because someone outside was saying we believe in Darfield and want to invest a lot of money here. It brought the Prime Minister here a few times too.’’
So employment is not a problem for the town, Broughton says. Part of its character is that it has its main road industrial zones.
Something else you need to remember – the kind of subtle factor not immediately apparent to the outside eye – is that the nearest Work and Income office is in Hornby. A difficult trip by public transport, so Darfield is not the sort of place that attracts beneficiaries seeking a cheaper location to live.
But actually, says Broughton, what really makes the town tick is that it is the secondary school hub for the Malvern Hills area. Darfield High has a school roll holding steady at around 700 pupils. Every day, buses bring children from all over – Windwhistle to West Melton.
Thus while Darfield itself is aging – a quarter of its population being over 65, the highest percentage in Selwyn says Broughton – it feels primarily like a family town. It is the regional crossroads, where generations have grown up together, played sport, and socialised.
Darfield might look like another country town while speeding past in a car but to live here is to be woven into decades of connections. ‘‘People like to live here for that sense of community. You’re always bumping into the same people in the shop, in the cafe, in the supermarket.’’
Darfield does not have the obvious glitz of a tourist town or retirement mecca. Nor is it exploding in size because it is a satellite settlement to Christchurch like Rolleston and Lincoln.
But it is growing all the same because it has an economy and a community. ‘‘There’s a real feel of peace and restoration that you can get living out here,’’ says Broughton, who cannot imagine himself leaving.
It’s a surprise that Darfield has not yet turned into another Christchurch dormitory town.
Broughton says there must be something psychological about how straight the road is coming out of Christchurch. The trip is only half an hour at most but people talk as if Darfield is far away.
‘‘I used to go to school at Middleton Grange in Riccarton and it took my friend in Sumner just as long to get there.’’ By contrast, for those living in Darfield, Christchurch feels right on the doorstep. Hornby’s shops are very familiar.
Broughton says the earthquakes did see an influx of Christchurch people renting. But West Melton probably absorbed most of the displaced growth. The truth is also that Darfield is not even that cheap anymore, as well as being the extra distance out.
‘‘The rent’s probably shot up around here by 50 per cent. And a house that used to cost you $300,000 now costs you $400,000. Even in Glentunnel, you would be paying $200,000 where it would have been $100,000 a few years ago.’’
There is the new fancy development taking place too – the $800,000 mansions on the 5 hectare sections that I noted. Broughton says Darfield is probably over supplied with top-end subdivisions. It could do with more small retirement flats he thinks.
But there are plenty of local farmers retiring off the land as well as an increasing number of web designers, irrigation electronics specialists and others working in the area who are setting up in style.
Darfield has drilled two deep groundwater bores to replace the shallow, pollution-prone, wells near the Waimakariri River, ensuring the town has the clean water supply to keep expanding.
This is why Darfield has its mixed feel, says Broughton. It is go-ahead in a steady fashion. It is being added to in a small way constantly – which is the healthiest way to grow.
Locals mourn when the old disappears. There was a heritage cottage which burnt down in the shopping strip. But now a new commercial building is going up on that spot.
Likewise an ancient set of garage workshops has come down further along the road. ‘‘People will remember going there with their dads.’’ Yet there is some excitement because soon Darfield will get its first car wash.
The community always has some new civic project on the go. There is a medical centre which was a long time coming. Spare land around the railway line came up for sale and the township committee took the risk of developing it. A housing subdivision generated about $1m to spend on park space and walkways.
To celebrate local history, a branchline station house was restored. Then Darfield’s old jail house was moved out on to the main road to create a visible attraction, with plans for the court house to follow.
Broughton says just as important to give the campervans and tour buses reason to pause, the township has built a new and very obvious toilet block next to the supermarket.
Another initiative, probably more for locals, is McHughs Forest Park. Some 43ha of an old Plantation Board block of douglas fir is being turned into a nature reserve and cycle track.
So sure, you can pass through Darfield in blink, says Broughton. It is only a speck on the map. Yet even on its small scale, there is plenty happening once you look.
What to do about water
A coal train from the West Coast comes clattering through. The kids are now coming home after school – three Filipina girls chattering together.
Broughton says a decade ago, there was an uptick of English arriving in the Malvern area.
Now with dairy, there is a new wave of migrant workers and their families.
Leaflets advertise consultation for the Malvern 2031 area plan. Selwyn Council wants to consider a 15 year framework for sustainable growth and development. Broughton says a big decision will be what the region does about water.
The first stage of the CPW irrigation scheme is underway to the north. Pipes are being laid, storage ponds dug. But now with the froth coming off the dairy industry, is stage two, which would bring it down beyond Darfield, going to be delayed?
Broughton says Selwyn Council is being asked to underwrite the design and consenting costs to get it to the point that private money can take over. The community is keen on having the agricultural options, but will they wear the expense of getting it happening in the next four years or so?
The Township Committee’s McKay says it is all making Darfield think about its identity. But talking about it, you realise how the town is doing fine.
It works because it has a strategic location and a strong community. It has the economic logic even if not the physical beauty.
Maybe that is why the giant gates or nor’west arch sculptures do not get done. They would be the kind of clever gimmick that might put Darfield on other people’s maps. However when you actually live here, it is not such a massive priority.