Long Term Plan pre-engagement to begin.

Community aspirations of Rangitīkei sought to influence planning

The Rangitīkei District Council is carrying out a pre-engagement process to determine topics to be consulted on during the Draft 2021-31 Long Term Plan Consultation next year.

Mayor Andy Watson said we’re framing our future and we want to hear about the type of community you want to live in so that we can include community aspirations in the Long Term Plan consultation.

“2020 has been a stressful year, but that doesn’t mean we don’t plan for the future,” said Mayor Watson. “Soon, Council will be deciding on the form of the new Marton Civic Centre and discuss what to do with the redundant Bulls water tower. We’ll consider the design of the Taihape Community Centre amenities block and think about new residential areas and smaller residential section sizes to accommodate our growing population.”

“Our district faces many challenges including ageing infrastructure, the former landfill on Putorino Road, access to health services, the feasibility of rural water schemes, increasing road damage from forestry trucks, as well as climate change.”

Mayor Watson said the big-ticket items will draw a lot of comment during the consultation next year. But for now, we want to hear about the aspirations of individuals, cultural and community groups.

Rangitīkei District Council Chief Executive Peter Beggs said pre-engagement is a new approach for Council and is designed to make it easier for everyone to have a voice. “We want to hear from everyone in our community to ensure our LTP represents the aspirations of our people.”

“We’ve created a fun activity that makes it easy for everyone to have their say and will run competitions, use polaroid pictures and carry out an online survey. We’ve called in the Youth Council to help out, and we’ll be attending community events across the District.”

LTP Project Manager Carol Gordon said the Framing Our Future pre-engagement process will start at the open day for the new Bulls Community Centre on Saturday 26 September and run through until the end of November.

“The Framing Our Future Team will be at the Shemozzle in Hunterville, visiting Te Kura o Ratana, and hosting open-days in our Towns,” she said. “We’ll be coming to most communities across the district in the next few months – let us know if you have a community day planned and we’ll do our best to be there.”

Carol said pre-engagement community activities will occur only if Level 1 Covid-19 restrictions are in place, however, if the Level is higher then we’ll continue to engage online.

More information will be available soon.