Decisions today will lead to stronger district
The decisions that have been made today signal a clear direction for the future of Waimate District, including upgrading essential infrastructure and growing the local economy.
The decisions, made when adopting the 2018-28 Long Term Plan today, follows public consultation and a subsequent 168 submissions. At the forefront, infrastructure formed the two key issues – water treatment upgrades and addressing deteriorating roads.
Sitting alongside these key issues were other projects including investigating the possibility of redeveloping the Waimate Library, introducing a new contestable grant for track development, developing a policy allowing shops to open on Easter Sunday, funding economic development activity, and starting a conversation around waste minimisation.
Mayor Craig Rowley says the key issues of upgrading drinking water supplies and better maintaining and renewing our roads will be a significant focus over the next 10 years, however, the smaller projects will also help grow and strengthen the district.
“As well as upgrading our water supplies in a staggered approach and spending extra money on our roads, the smaller projects are also a step forward in helping us develop a stronger district,” says Mayor Rowley.
“Economic development is something we’ve been working on for some time and it’s important that we build momentum by improving infrastructure and connectivity, beautifying the town’s entrances and main streets and growing the district’s visitor economy. We know our library needs to be modernised but before we embark on this large project we must first research the opportunities so that money is spent as wisely as possible.”
“There’s a lot of public discussion about waste, recycling and landfills so we’ll be investigating all possible options when we review our Waste Minimisation Plan. We’ve introduced a new $20,000 contestable grant to support groups and organisations who want to develop walking and cycling tracks throughout the Waimate District and we’ve introduced an annual $5,000 grant for Bushtown Waimate. We’ll also be developing an Easter Sunday Shop Trading Policy which we’ll ask the public to comment on later in the year.”
“We believe we’ve struck a good balance between addressing these issues and the money (including rates) required to fund them. The decisions we’ve made today will help grow our district and make it stronger and better prepared for future challenges.”
The 2018-28 Long Term Plan has been formally adopted and comes into effect on 1 July 2018.