Regional Council notes

Wairarapa did itself proud recently in the way it responded to Greater Wellington Regional Council’s draft Long Term Plan and its Revenue and Financing Policy.  The Long Term Plan outlines GW’s projects and levels of service for the next ten years and the Revenue and Financing Policy dictates who pays and how it is apportioned.

Both documents proposed changes that potentially had major impacts for Wairarapa, in particular, new trains for our line and the way flood protection was rated for.  With only one representative at the council table it was imperative that people responded to make our voice heard and respond they did.

GWRC received three hundred and thirty eight submissions on its LTP with one hundred and nineteen coming from Wairarapa.  That’s pretty good considering we have only ten per cent of the region’s population.

When it came to the Revenue and Financing Policy though, we did even better.  From four hundred and twenty three submissions received, a massive three hundred and thirty four were from Wairarapa and South Wairarapa residents in particular were very vocal. … Continue Reading

Letters

Not good enough

Today, 23 May, we again find ourselves questioning the competency of our Council and their employees. Wednesday, one of the 3 days the Landfill opens for a few hours, open according to Council information 1-3pm, so arriving  at 135pm I find a queue of traffic parked alongside the road, posing a potential risk to motorists on an open section of road with a 100kph speed limit, awaiting the landfill gates to open..

Upon ringing the Council I am told it is closed today as contractors are putting up new netting, and our Council has put this in a paper advertisement (not your fine publication) and on a “Facebook Page” to let everyone know. 

None of the waiting queue, even if they use “Facebook” ever think to look at the Council’s page to see if the services they provide are functioning !!, and yet this is how they consider they have communicated with their ratepayers. We are also told there is supposed to be a sign on the gate, which after much searching a laminated piece of printed paper is found down a fence line obviously blown off in the recent or overnight winds (who would have thought we have wind here!). … Continue Reading

Know your town

Not the place to be in 1904

A newspaper of the time reported that Martinborough and the Lower Valley supplied more tragedies that any district of it’s size. Many of the disasters were down to the weather, the year had started with a very hot dry summer which was followed by a cold, extremely wet winter with huge floods. 

The calamities began with  a murder of  Leonard Collinson at Te Awaite  Station in February, indeed the continuing tragedies coined the phrase ‘the  Collinson Curse’. Collinson was a scrub cutting contractor who had employed William Ellis. Ellis was reported to have been seen at various times shooting station deer and sheep for food and was subsequently sacked. 

Ellis – also know as Jimmy or Jack McKenzie – had been sighted in the vicinity of the Station prior to the shooting and was known to be a great marksman who could live off the land. 

Within  two days there were around a hundred police and hunters looking for Ellis. At the start police offered a reward of a hundred pounds  (2018 = $17,644) for his capture. This was  later increased to four hundred pounds ($70,576) without any result.  … Continue Reading

From the mayor

The Marae DIY crew rolled into Martinborough on the 16^th of May set to transform Hau Ariki Marae as they had done on other Marae’s around New Zealand 99 times before. They were expecting the usual help from the community, food would be provided throughout their stay, people would arrive to help plant, dig, paint, hammer, the kuia would be whisked away to be pampered and by Sunday afternoon they would head out of Martinborough happy and excited that they had finished 100 Marae makeovers. 

What they didn’t appreciate until they arrived was how amazing the whole community response to this event would be. The crew had not appreciated that Hau Ariki is a real community Marae, it was built by the community for the community, is on community land, everyone in the community is welcome and the community rallies around it when things need to be done.

The Hau Ariki Marae Committee deserve huge recognition for taking this project on, pulling in the Martinborough community to help and getting through four days of hard, often back breaking work to transform the Marae into a stunning community facility. It was also wonderful to see the recognition of the three kuia, Missy Harper, Kurawari Panere and Esther Read. 

I want to thank the hundreds of people who helped in so many ways to ensure that the makeover was completed ahead of time and despite the awful change in the weather. Food kept arriving; people wandered in grabbed a spade, paint brush or a hammer and gave a few hours and more to help not only the Hau Ariki Marae but the Martinborough community as a whole. The transformation looks stunning. … Continue Reading