Rapaki Farm lifestyle project shovel ready

From Shooting Butts Road to Te Muna Road, an enhanced walking track passes 39 lifestyle blocks.

Plans for a 39-lifestyle block subdivision behind Martinborough golf links are “shovel ready” _ with the contract to begin roading on the block signed and sealed, developer Murray Cole told The Star.

Power supply for the development has “also been contracted,” but the lifestyle blocks will not have water or sewerage connnections – “these are lifestyle blocks.” 

The project will include a “Te Muna Road – to town walk” which will link into the Rapaki Hillside Walk _ already listed as one of the country’s Top 10 leisure walks.

The plan is to sell the 39 rural lots for $1.2 million each, he said, with the project’s focus on complementing and enhancing the natural landscape.

Cole said an initial stage of the development will see 11 four-hectare blocks accessed from Shooting Butts Road go on the market in early spring – with four already pre-sold.

“They’re mostly four hectares with a few bigger ones up the top (of the landholding)  where there may be a luxury tree-top hotel,” he added.

“A big thing in Rapaki is we’re hoping to make the (public leisure) walk better … so you’ll be able to walk from Te Muna Road right down to Shooting Bucks Road (and) to the town – or you can ride your electric bike. 

“There’ll also be a cicuit so you can take your little dog and walk around … without impacting on the privacy of the homes.” … Continue Reading

Pain Farm issues for critical public airing

By Storm Robertson, Chair, Martinborough Community Board

When the current Martinborough Community Board (MCB) first got together we decided we needed to understand what issues the community had and what we could do to make a worthwhile contribution to potentially resolving them. We set off by holding “Meet the MCB” meetings and right from the start, Pain Farm (PF) was a constant topic raised.

There were many issues about the farm estate raised, so we determined to understand PF and how it was operating.

What we found was the accounts were being poorly maintained, details of spending were incomplete, contracts were either non-existent or being poorly managed and Council did not seem to understand its role as Trustee.

We also found that in 2019 the then-MCB had approached council formerly requesting actions including explanations of how the account was being managed, and in particular its financial status, what funds were due to PF, and details of outgoings being paid to council and what contracts were in place.

At the time, the council acknowledged they had managed PF poorly and would set about to improve the situation.

In 2023 the very same issues existed and in fact council had increased its charges to PF by treating it as one of its assets.

The impact was the current MCB could not accurately determine the financial status of PF and therefore we suspended applications for funding grants.

After several meetings between council and MCB, a document, Memorandum of Agreement, was set up and signed in October 2023, with a review due to be held in December 2023. … Continue Reading

Palestine war vigil attracts toots, waves in Square

Palestine vigil at Martinborough Square Memorial Gate wins passerby support.

By Ray Lilley

A protest group holding Palestinian flags, posters reading “Toot for Gaza,” “Genocide” and “Free Palestine” is winning solid support – with tooting, waves and thumbs-up from passing motorists and, notably, younger tourists who stop to add to the gathering of between 12 and 20 locals.

Some join the weekly vigil for 10 minutes, a few journey down from Carterton and Featherston –  and some join other vigils being held across the Wairarapa, protester Alan Barker told The Star.

Some of the group also fly the Palestine flag at their properties in solidarity with a people who have been under Israeli bombardment for more than seven months, after the Hamas raid into Israel on October 7 sparked the so-called Gaza War. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed in the campaign.

“We get toots, a lot of people gives thumbs-up, a lot of people pausing to look and maybe going away to have a think,” Barker said. 

“We’ve had a few thumbs-down, a couple of people shout at us, call us  terrorists – a label I’d be happy to wear if I was capable of being one, paraplegic as I am. We’ve had people from Palestine here tell us we’re dong a good thing.”

“The objective is to say to people around us there is something happening you can’t avert your face from – there’s something happening here. Is this your inheritance, you allowed this to happen on your watch?” 

“Its now almost totally onesided and horrific to watch and I don’t want to be part of that, for God’s sake.”  … Continue Reading

Recalling the Fallen

Blustery winds and cloudy skies were no deterrents at Martinborough’s Anzac Day Dawn Parade – 106 years after the end of WW1.