Draft Kihikihi Village Plan ready for feedback
Waipā District Council will seek feedback on priority projects for Kihikihi, following a decision at the Council’s Strategic Planning & Policy Committee meeting today.
Councillors voted unanimously to bring the draft urban development plan to residents, to help ensure projects are put forward for the 2024-34 Long Term Plan.
Council drew criticism during this year’s 2021-31 Long Term Plan (LTP) consultation for the lack of projects for Kihkihi.
Strategy Manager, Kirsty Downey said the draft urban development plan addressed a number of concerns raised during the LTP consultation.
“During the LTP hearings, we heard from the Kihikihi Resident & Ratepayers Association about a number of key concerns including heavy traffic speeds, improving parking around the school, creating safe connecting pathways, playgrounds and improvements at Kihikihi Domain,” Downey said.
“I trust that the community will be pleased to see these are included in the urban development plan, so it will now be a matter of prioritising these so we can allocate budgets and get some of these underway.”
The draft urban development plan includes key topics such as Open Spaces, Movement, Recreation & Play, Village Centre, and recommends improvements at a number of neighbourhood reserves, including Turata, recently corrected after a historic spelling error saw it named Rata-Tu for decades.
The draft plan was initially planned to be brought to the committee for adoption last year so projects could be included in this year’s Long Term Plan for budgeting but was delayed due to Covid-19 and to seek further input from mana whenua.
With feedback from mana whenua included, the plan will now be presented back to the community for prioritisation.
Feedback from the community in 2017 indicated there was a strong appetite to share the town’s Māori and European history through both the Waikato Wars and the New Zealand Land Wars. Two significant battles occurred nearby in Rangiaowhia and Ōrākau in 1864 which decimated the community and dramatically changed the village’s landscape.
One prominent feature in the village’s landscape - the Kihikihi Domain - which regularly hosts international events, was also highlighted as an opportunity for improvement by residents.
Sharing the village’s history and putting together a cohesive plan for the Domain’s future are both included in the draft plan.
The draft Kihikihi Urban Development Plan will open for a four week consultation period from mid-June and will include a number of community and stakeholder meetings in an effort to reach a wide range of the community.
“It’s important that the plan reflects the wants and needs of the whole community, so we would love to see as many residents give their feedback as possible.”
Residents will be able to provide feedback when consultation opens at the Council website www.waipadc.govt.nz/haveyoursay or in person at a Council office in Te Awamutu or Cambridge.
A project to restart the Kihikihi Town Clock, which has been a bug-bear for the community for a number of years, is now proposed to receive a $70,500 kickstart in year one of the 2021-31 Long Term Plan, which will be adopted at the end of June.
