October 22 2024
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Artistic achievement accolades Celebrating kūmara, kai and community
The month-long Savour Northland cuisine festival is underway across the region, and Kaipara is getting …
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The Kaipara Art Awards were held last Friday in Mangawhai, with the judges praising the scope and variety of skilled creative works put forward for 2024. Six major awards were disbursed, including the French Art Shop Two Dimensional Art Award, the highest accolade on the schedule for painting. Janel Colle, pictured here, received a merit award in this category along with congratulations from the French Art Shop’s Kalvin Collins and Mangawahi Artists’ representative Belinda Vernon.
Positive outcomes through collaboration
Oranga Tamariki Dargaville (OT) and Te Uri o Hau Settlement Trust Development representatives signed a …
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Sand mining for Mangawhai was sought
It’s been revealed that sand mining operators McCallum Brothers applied through fast-track legislation to …
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NZTA’s Kaipara fiscal pothole by Andy Bryenton
The New Zealand Transport Agency has dealt out good news and bad to the Kaipara District Council, as it finalises its roading finances for the next three-year period. While the 2024 to 2027 National Land Transit programme provides $258 million for the maintenance of state highways, $243 million to resurface those roads and fill potholes, and a big investment in the Brynderwyn Hills bypass, the amount given to the KDC to help with local roading has left an economic gap. “In the 2024–27 Long Term Plan, KDC allocated $136.5 million to reflect the improvements required in the roading network, however, the final budget provided by NZTA is $101.1 million, leaving a shortfall of $35.4
million,” said KDC infrastructure adviser Anin Nama. Each Long Term Plan contains roading paid for by rates, and roading subsidised by the NZTA. This figure does not include state highways, like SH12, which links Dargaville to Maungatūroto, or SH14 between Dargaville and Whangārei. The timing of the LTP means that councillors and staff must work out local budgets before the NZTA finalises its contribution, and this year, the shortfall in its funding alone is $22 million. The upshot of this decision is that while state highways
in Kaipara will receive a much-needed makeover, there will be multimillion-dollar cuts to the planned spending on local roads. Additionally, projects to construct a connecting footpath in Kaiwaka, and improvements to the Mangawhai Wood Street precinct could not be budgeted as planned. There’s also the possibility that certain Kaipara transport projects fitting the government’s current push for economic growth and resilience might be able to apply for disbursements from a new $100 million fund administered by the NZTA.
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