When Friends of Wainui Reserve volunteers arrived to plant trees on Monday morning (11th July), they found that Waikato District Council contractors had closed the reserve and locked them out. This was done without any notice to the community or to the volunteer group.
When this last happened in 2016, Friends of Wainui Reserve volunteers were assured that they would be warned if the reserve was closed again. At that time the small volunteer group, that does such a marvellous job of caring for the reserve, was assured that any work in future would be done when the ground wasn’t too wet.
John Lawson, Chairperson of the group, says it never gets much wetter than it is now, which will add to the cost of doing the work and increase the damage done.
John is also concerned that the Council works will duplicate the existing concrete path and destroy the area of lawn with a 1.5 metre wide track, rather than follow the Friends suggestion of extending the existing concrete wheelchair track from the carpark to the open area to meet up with existing tracks. This would take visitors alongside more of the stream and near the ponds and gazebo, reducing the amount of work to be done and avoid damage to the grass area. John asked the Council, “We still don’t want the lawn destroyed. Is it too late to save it?”
Friends of Wainui say they received apologies last time a closure was made for lack of information. John Lawson has asked the Council, “It seems nothing was put in place to ensure that notification took place. To avoid a third occurrence, what changes are being made to your procedures to ensure that enquiries such as mine below (on 22 and 26 June) are answered?”
Bush Park’s also the only place in Raglan with a shelter (gazebo). I bet no-one from Council’s thought about that. With weather like this we are at a loss as to where to get out to for a bit with the dogs and our thermos 🙁
Yes. And the lawn is the only green area in Raglan that is sheltered from the prevailing winds. Used for weddings, funerals and picnics.