Reserve Management Plan finalised
The Whakatane District Council’s Policy Committee has provided feedback which will allow the draft District Reserve Management Plan to be finalised for adoption.
As an administering body, the Council has the responsibility for preparing plans and policy for the management of the reserves it controls. Consultation for the draft Management Plan attracted 189 submissions from the public. The Policy Committee considered the submissions and recommended some amendments to the Draft Plan. The amended Plan will go before Council for adoption in July.
Support for project to lift Te Reo Māori visibility
The Whakatāne District Council will work with Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiarangi to increase the use and visibility of te reo Māori in Whakatāne township.
A report received by the Council’s Policy Committee last week set out a proposal for a joint project to encourage the use of te reo Māori in the community. It noted that the District has a high Māori population (43.5% compared with the national average of 14.9%), as well as a higher-than-average percentage of te reo Māori speakers, and that exploring ways to increase the use and visibility of te reo Māori aligned with Whakatāne Ki Mua feedback that cohesion, connectedness and community spirit are what people love about our District.
Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiarangi will lead the project, with responsibility for:
- Garnering support from external stakeholders such as hapū, iwi and marae
- Developing innovative activities that support Whakatāne as a bilingual town
- Providing resource, where possible, and working with the Council to explore resource and funding opportunities
The Council will:
- Provide support project funding applications to external agencies
- Consider options for promoting the use and visibility of Te Reo Māori throughout its operations
- Encourage the wider community involvement in the project
Traffic and Speed Limits Bylaw
The Policy Committee has recommended that the revised Traffic and Speed Limits Bylaw 2018 be adopted by the Council. Public consultation on the draft bylaw resulted in 267 submissions, and after a hearing in April, the committee requested amendments to the section relating to heavy vehicle restrictions.
If adopted by the Council on 7 June, a number of speed limit changes will come into force on July 1, 2018. The changes will primarily affect local residents only.
The revised bylaw also makes changes to Section 21 relating to Heavy Vehicle Restrictions, which now focus on heavy goods vehicles over 12 tonnes travelling on Wainui Road, rather than through Ōhope. The revised Section 21 restrictions are:
- No logging trucks shall travel through Ōhope at any time of the day or night, unless they have received a permit to do so.
- No Heavy Goods Vehicles, laden or unladen, travelling for the purpose of transporting goods or services exclusively to and from destinations outside the legal boundaries of the Whakatāne District, shall travel on Wainui Road or Pohutukawa Avenue. This means that all heavy goods vehicles travelling through the District to and from destinations outside the District must use the State Highway.
- Notwithstanding Clause 21(1), permits may be issued by an Authorised Officer of the Council in extenuating circumstances.
As part of the bylaw review, the Council’s Mobile Trading Bylaw has been revoked, reflecting the fact that existing statutory and regulatory controls adequately provide for the management of mobile trading in Whakatane. Mobile traders will be subject to the traffic bylaw, but there will no longer be any requirement to obtain a permit from Council.