Waikato District Council news
Waikato District Council welcomes the announcement of their successful application to the Tourism Infrastructure Fund for facilities in Raglan.
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment awarded Council $868,000 for the construction of toilets, rubbish facilities and additional car parking to assist with the peak season overflows experienced in the small Waikato town over the summer months.
“Raglan is the jewel in the crown of the Waikato and every summer we are blessed with thousands of families, domestic and international visitors enjoying what our residents enjoy every day,” Mayor Allan Sanson states. “This funding will allow us to bring forward some much-needed additional facilities to cope with some of the pressure points during peak season and beyond.”
The funding will go towards new toilet facilities based at Joyce Petchell Park, Cliff Street and Ngarunui Beach. Joyce Petchell Park will also benefit from additional car parking for larger vehicles. Larger capacity rubbish bins will also be installed to assist with litter.
Raglan was identified in the Hamilton & Waikato Tourism Opportunities Plan as a “hero experience” and so Council and Regional Tourism Organisations have worked with the local community to establish a Destination Management Organisation to assist with local tourism opportunities.
The town has a resident population of 5,350 and caters for a population swell of approximately 91,700 overnight visitors per month during the peak summer months.
Visitors to the town can enjoy a world-class left hand break, surf beaches and an outstanding natural harbour with numerous tourism activities both on the water and land. Tourists can also enjoy a stunning horsetail waterfall, Wairenga – Bridal Veil Falls, a short drive from the town centre.
The latest attraction in Raglan is a pump track at Raglan Domain (Papahua). Bikers, skateboarders and scooter riders have been making the most of the state-of-the-art track, constructed by trail ride builders Empire of Dirt and landscaped by Council staff.
Joyce Petchell Park toilets average 17 uses a day and the most modern toilets, so why add yet more new ones there? Table 2 of https://wdcsitefinity.blob.core.windows.net/sitefinity-storage/docs/default-source/your-council/plans-policies-and-bylaws/strategies/waikato-district-public-toilet-strategy.pdf?sfvrsn=12c4b6c9_2 has these figures –
Toilet Average daily use
Ngarunui Beach 212
Kopua Domain 161
Cliff St 126
Ngarunui Beach carpark 110
Riria Kereopa MD 59
Domain Boat Ramp 57
Joyce Petchel Park 17
Our councillor’s explanation (21 mins into https://archive.org/details/LisaThomsonCouncilComment) is that these were in the Long Term Plan, but why were they in it and not those more needed, such as the long discussed public use of the Town Hall toilets, or the PlaceMakers plan to encourage businesses to make their toilets available?
At the Long Term Plan hearing it was said that council is paying $1,800 a year to Te Kowhai store to cover the extra costs of their toilets being used by the public. So why are they spending so much on new toilets here, rather than keeping money local, as in Te Kowhai?