If you’re looking for indoor activities this summer, or something to do if the road’s closed and you’re stuck in traffic, and have a Libraries Horowhenua membership, take a look at their services for lending ebooks, movies, TV shows, audio books, comics and graphic novels:
As the festive season rolls in, we here at Libraries Horowhenua have a shiny new eLibrary gift … a brand new ePlatform to enjoy!
Our eLibrary is a popular service, which is available for free with your Libraries Horowhenua membership or eMembership. …
We’re pleased to say the tank has now been moved a few metres to the west. It’s in among a clump of trees where it blends in much better. There is yet to be a marker of some kind to help the Fire Service locate it when it’s needed.
While we believe the community should have been consulted before it was placed, we’re pleased that Horowhenua District Council paid attention to the concerns of the affected residents and took swift action.
The toilet block at Hank Edwards Reserve was built in the 1960s or 70s and is more than showing its age. While it’s a step up from no public toilets at all, it’s pretty awful to use, smelly, with endlessly leaking or overflowing toilets and with rusting and crumbling parts.
Now the good news: by mid-2022 we should have a clean, safe, fully-functional building with two accessible toilets, a changing room, two outdoor showers and even water fountains for dogs. There will also be a covered area with picnic tables and an electric BBQ.
John Hewitson and Miraz Jordan attended an on-site meeting recently for potential contractors to view the site and discuss the plans with Horowhenua District Council in order to put in bids for the work.
To minimise disruption for the community, work will commence after the busy summer season has finished — around February 2022 and should be completed by about July.
While the toilet block is out of action there will be two Portaloos available for public use. They will be cleaned regularly by Council contractors.
Below are the drawings we’ve been asked to share with the community. These will also soon be posted on the noticeboard.
Note: we’ve clarified with our contact at Horowhenua District Council, Stephan Titze, Parks and Property Project Lead, that although a big green water tank appears in the drawings there will not be a tank but simply a small water connection. BTW: the much-disputed big green firefighting water tank has now been moved to a better location. See Firefighting Water Tank at Hank Edwards Reserve.
Toilet block plan. Manga Pirau Street is at the top of the page and the river at the bottom. Toilet block view from Manga Pirau Street. Toilet block view from the reserve.
More and more people are out on bikes enjoying Waikawa Beach these days, but back in April a bike was stolen from the footbridge. There’s not really any good place to leave or lock a bike while enjoying the river and other features of our area. See Bright green mountain bike missing from footbridge, Easter 2021.
It’s hard to lock bikes to these wooden rails, or even to leave them carefully ‘parked’. In this photo, only one bike was actually locked.
After bike stands were requested, Carolyn Copeland, Horowhenua District Council Roading Projects Team Leader, emailed this info:
When outside consultants contracted by Horowhenua District Council considered the Resource Consent for the tank they held the opinion that no-one would be affected by placing it in that position and so there was no need to consult anyone. See the note below about the Resource Consent process.
Local Government New Zealand’s CouncilMARK™ programme is giving Horowhenua District Council’s performance a tick of approval in its second independent assessment.
LGNZ President Stuart Crosby says Horowhenua ratepayers can be pleased with their council’s efforts and trajectory.
“Horowhenua District Council has displayed competence, maturity and improvement over a three-year period, and is operating at a level where their ratepayers are receiving good value for money.
“Since their first CouncilMARK™ assessment in 2016, the Council has particularly improved in the areas of financial management, infrastructure strategy, and community engagement,” he says.
Horowhenua District is in a period of rapid population growth and infrastructure development which is unlikely to slow in the short to medium term. The Council has faced challenges including an accelerated infrastructure programme, increasing housing demand, and a need to diversify revenue sources. …
The Council underwent the first independent CouncilMARK™ assessment in 2016 and was awarded a “B”. In this year’s assessment, which was conducted in March, the Council has received an improved “BB” grade. …
Horowhenua District Council serves a population of 36,100 and is responsible for 583km of road and 853km of water pipes.
