Regional Council notes

There was a bit of unrest recently in Greytown after South Wairarapa District Council voted not to sell land it owned in the town centre.

The land had been recognised by a local businessman as being a prime location for his new enterprise, a very smart tourism development.  Unfortunately for them, the land was also home to the Greytown Men’s Shed.

Now there is no doubt that the proposed project was high quality and would have had value spin-offs for the town but it also highlighted that a town’s needs are greater than just business.  As a long term Greytown resident once said “these days you can’t buy anything useful in Greytown.  If you want anything useful you have to go to Masterton”.  Now obviously that is stretching the truth just a bit but it does highlight the fact that visitors and residents have different needs.  Those different needs often compete for resource and councils must carefully consider all their options when deciding who and what to support.

Over the years SWDC have sold several pieces of land deemed surplus to requirements, mostly to fund new civic projects.  Neither the Greytown Town Centre nor the Waihenga Centre could have been funded without the sale of assets.  That does not however mean that a precedent has been set for further sales as each was considered on its merits at the time.

The Men’s Shed concept originally came from Australia after it was found that retired and widowed men often have difficulty staying part of the community which can lead to isolation and depression.  It was so successful that it took off and eventually made its way across the Tasman.  Masterton was the first Wairarapa town to embrace the movement followed by Greytown, Featherston and Martinborough.

The South Wairarapa Sheds are all in close proximity to their town centres and this has played a large part in their success.  People are able to just drop in while in town, see what’s happening or simply have a chat.  They have nothing to do with business but are part of our community fabric.  They are truly ‘by locals for locals’.

The trouble is that they are all on prime land and others may see more value in a different use for the areas.  Let’s just hope that whatever our local government looks like in the future that it sees value in community projects, not just economic opportunities.

For those in Greytown who are disappointed that they won’t be a getting a cinema anytime soon, cheer up.  There’s a really good one in Martinborough, just fifteen minutes’ drive away.  

Adrienne Staples