Raglan Community Board news
The Places for People, He Whenua He Tangata Project team is celebrating the high level of engagement in the community that the recent submission process attracted.
Drop-in sessions held over the past month have attracted hundreds of locals, providing a variety of opinions on the community-led project.
A very successful workshop was also held with students of Raglan Area School, where the voice of our youth was heard loud and clear.
Overall a total of 295 submission forms were received.
These indicated that 58% supported the proposed changes for the Bow Street/Wallis Street intersection area (Pūtoetoe Place ) – 33% were against the plan and 9% in part support..
As far as the proposed parklet on Bow Street is concerned, 61% were in support, 28% were against and 11% in part support.
As many in the community will know, this project has sparked vigorous debate in our town, the next steps of the project will be determined much more than simply by the numbers.
The project team are now analysing the large number of comments received by the community that go hand in hand with those numbers.
The purpose of the project is creating places downtown for people to gather and enjoy what the town has to offer.
There was a lot of support for the creation of a space in central Raglan that is pedestrian-friendly and attractive to simply hang out for a while.
But, one of the main areas of concern is parking in the downtown area of Raglan and the potential impact the project would have on parking and businesses in the area.
Project Manager Dennis Amoore from the Raglan Community Board says “We’d just like to say a huge thank-you to the people of Raglan for getting involved. Submissions both for and against showed a lot of passion and care for our town and community, though there were very different ideas about what it should and shouldn’t strive to be.”
How the project evolves, will be determined by more than just the numbers. There is a lot of analysis by the project team and further discussion with the businesses and community to take place first.
“We believe it’s in processes like these – where everyone’s ideas and concerns and values are respected – that we can make decisions together as a community.
Once the analysis is complete the project team will make a decision about the next steps and the community will be informed.
Kind regards,
Gabrielle Parson
Raglan Community Board Chair
021 844 785