Update 14.02.11. Rosie Worsp has advised that due to feedback from a very positive meeting in Ngaruawahia on Friday morning with Richard Bax, that it will be best to defer the WED meeting about the wharf.
A lack of information from Waikato District Council on the replacement buildings it is planning for Raglan Wharf has driven the local group, Whaingaroa Environmental Defence, to hold its own meeting about the wharf rebuilding. Raglan Community Board Chair, Rodger Gallagher said that the best place for the community to raise issues about getting the wharf working again was at meetings of the Raglan Community Board and confirmed that the Raglan Wharf is the number one item on the Board’s project list. He said he had been assured by Council GM, Richard Bax that Mr Bax would bring an updated plan to the Raglan Community Board meeting on Tuesday 8th February.
The media release issued by Whaingaroa Environmental Defence is:
Waikato District Council limited consultation on the wharf rebuilding to a ‘stakeholders’ group. Now it cannot agree with even that small group on the wharf design, Council officers have signed off on a concept plan and aim to get it built without any further consultation. Despite pleas from Raglan Community Board for urgency, there is still nothing more than a concept plan over 9 months after the buildings were burnt down. Whaingaroa Environmental Defence is working with the stakeholders group to run a meeting at the Community House at 7.30pm on Wednesday 16 February. It will be an opportunity to find out more and say whether you’re happy with Council steamrolling their plans through. Up to now Council has insisted on working with a small group in order to speed replacement of the wharf. It is apparent that strategy has been no more effective than their fire precautions. Some are concerned that Council has not shown any flare in its museum design and that the wharf will be another building with less character than the old buildings.