Waimea Weekly
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Wednesday 3 May 2023
Page 4
Page 25
Backyard chooks
LIFTOUT
Di’s decades of dedication
Flood issues ‘complicated’ 10-year delay JO KENT It’s been a decade since a Tasman District Council report investigated the flood risk for Wakefield and Brightwater during a heavy rain event, yet recommendations to improve safety have still to be actioned.
The Brightwater-Wakefield Flood Hazard Mapping document from 2013 shows that almost all the businesses in Wakefield, including the resthome, and a large swath of houses would be right in the way of a flood from Eighty Eight Valley Stream during a high rainfall event.
The document, which is available on the TDC website, states: “The informal stopbank near the old railway embankment behind 58 Eighty Eight Valley Road appears to play an important role in protecting the Wakefield township during an extreme rainfall event. Consideration should be given to
strengthening or protecting and maintaining this stopbank.” TDC’s senior infrastructure planning advisor – stormwater and river, David Arseneau, says the delay to addressing the flood issues is complicated, not least because the old railway embankment identified in the report is
not an official stopbank, despite it serving that purpose. “It is important to note that the railway embankment is not a formal stopbank, nor any type of Tasman District Council infrastructure asset. It is a remnant
SEE PAGE 2
Blueberry a prize budgie ANNE HARDIE Three years ago Jaxon Creswell won a cockatiel in a raffle at the annual Nelson Bird Show that became the first of his varied flock, and this year he won junior and novice prizes for his budgie, Blueberry. The blue budgerigar was one of nearly 300 birds being judged at the show in Hope during the weekend, with birds travelling from as far as Taranaki and Dunedin. For nine-year-old Jaxon from Wakefield, this year’s show was a success and he is expanding his flock which already includes budgies, ca-
naries and the original cockatiel, Cocky. The cheeky cockatiel has not learnt any words, but happily taunts the family cat with meows. Jaxon’s 12-year-old brother Tyler was the first to become interested in breeding birds and now has six homing pigeons, one budgie and “too many chickens to count”. “They don’t get angry like a cat, or do too much damage,” he says. “They can peck you, but that doesn’t do much. The outside birds eat wasps which is good because I’m allergic to wasps.”
SEE PAGE 2
LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED
Jaxon and Tyler Creswell with Blueberry the budgerigar at the Nelson Bird Show. Photo: Anne Hardie.
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