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Wednesday 4 December 2024
Footpath plea after child hit by car MAX FRETHEY
Local Democracy Reporter
The rural Tasman community of Upper Moutere is renewing its plea for a shared path to be built in the village after a child was hit
by a car on Monday. A $400,000 shared path, linking the centre of the village and the community centre 1.3km away, was originally slated to be constructed in the first quarter of 2025.
However, in October Tasman District Council deferred construction until the 2025/26 financial year because assumed funding from the New Zealand Transport Agency wasn’t granted after the Government slashed
walking and cycling funding. On Monday, a local child was critically injured in the village centre after being hit by a car. Though the incident occurred just outside the area to where the shared path would have ex-
tended, it has exemplified safety concerns about pedestrian-access and speed limits in the small community. “It was right in the village centre,
SEE PAGE 2
NZ-first for Tākaka Hill This weekend will see the opening of New Zealand’s first public Via Ferrata on Tākaka Hill. Few New Zealanders will be familiar with a Via Ferrata climbing route, but in the European Alps there are more than 1000 routes. They are rock climbing routes where steel footholds and wire rope have been added so that anyone with reasonable strength and fitness is able to climb a rock face that otherwise only experienced rock
climbers could have climbed. The thrill of rock climbing becomes available to many more people and the fixed wire rope provides a continuous safety line. Every climber wears a rock climbing harness with lanyards that are always attached to the wire rope. The Takaka Hill Via Ferrata is the brainchild of Till Middelhauve, who founded an Incorporated Society which aims to build and promote free public Via Ferratas in this country. The club applied for grants to fund the materials to build a route. It took more than two years to obtain all the necessary agreements and raise the funds. See Page 2.
The country’s first public Via Ferrata rock climbing course has been established on the top of the Tākaka Hill, with an open day this Saturday. Motueka High School student Lara Middelhauve is pictured testing it out. Photo: www.risse.org
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