October 5, 2021, marked 10 years since the MV Rena slammed into Ōtaiti Astrolabe Reef. Photo / NZME
October 5, 2021, marked 10 years since the MV Rena slammed into Ōtaiti Astrolabe Reef. Photo / NZME
The Bay of Plenty Times is looking back at the stories of 2021. Here's what made headlines in October.
October 4
Tauranga City Council sought feedback on a plan to use land earmarked for sports fields for affordable housing instead as the city grappled with a housing crisis.
At a meeting, city commissioners agreed to approve, in principle, the use of the Parau Farms site for housing. A Memorandum of Understanding was being developed between government housing provider Kāinga Ora, hapū Ngāti Kahu, and the council.
Parau Farms is council-owned land near Wairoa River, south of State Highway 2, in Bethlehem once acquired as an active reserve.
The potential shift from its reserve status requires consultation and involves transforming about 22.4 hectares into housing. An additional 10.9ha is considered to remain suitable for reserves.
October 5, 2021, will mark 10 years since the MV Rena slammed into Ōtaiti Astrolabe Reef, 12 nautical miles from the Tauranga coastline. The grounding would become New Zealand's worst maritime environmental disaster and the world's second costliest ship salvage.
The stricken vessel spewed thick crude oil into Tauranga's waters, blanketing the region's golden shores with black muck. Tar-like, it choked wildlife and decaying debris from the ship's strewn containers repeatedly washed ashore. It took years for the region to recover.
Journalist Kiri Gillespie covered the Rena saga as it unfolded. A decade later she revisits the disaster to find out what has been learned. It's a story about lost money, lost faith, tenacity, redemption, and the good that can come from disaster.
October 5, 2021, marked 10 years since the MV Rena slammed into Ōtaiti Astrolabe Reef.
October 8
The Bay of Plenty District Health Board began preparations for the "imminent" arrival of Covid-19 in the region.
Tauranga Hospital began increasing its capacity to take Covid-19 patients, converting ward 4 into a Covid ward.
Intensive care resources were also being stepped up. Six additional doctors were appointed and a negative-pressure area for Covid patients created, which pumps infected air straight outside rather than through the hospital.
In a strongly-worded opinion piece for the Bay of Plenty Times, health board chief executive Pete Chandler said people who decided not to be vaccinated must consider how they would keep their family safe when Covid is in the community.
In an interview, Chandler said Covid-19 was "gradually spreading out" from Auckland, prompting a "real urgency" to get vaccinated.
Pete Chandler, the new chief executive of the Bay of Plenty District Health Board.
October 15
Mount Maunganui residents opposed to plans for a "massive" accommodation and cafe complex on a prime beachfront section battled to stop it from going ahead.
The Tauranga City Council also raised concerns about the development proposed for the corner of Marine Parade and Grove Ave.
Dozens of people attended a resource consent application hearing held before an independent commissioner in the council's chambers. The development was proposed by Joga Singh of SS Trust, who applied for consent on June 29 2020. The complex planned for the 1560sq m site included four apartments, 23 motel units and a small cafe.
It would stand three storeys high, plus an underground carpark.
An artistic render of what the proposed development at Marine Parade and Grove Ave could look like, if it gains consent. Image / Supplied
October 17
Workplace tensions arising over whether co-workers are vaccinated could lead to workplace bullying, an employment consultant warned.
Business leaders said employers were being caught in a "tricky" situation of vaccinated staff not wanting to work next to unvaccinated staff as they juggled health and safety requirements and human rights.
They were asking for clarity around rules, mandates and verification to avoid employment law issues down the line.
The Government has said certain jobs need to be done by vaccinated people and a Bay employment lawyer said being vaccinated could be a job requirement but employers should not discriminate if health reasons were involved.
Employers were hearing some vaccinated staff won't work next to unvaccinated staff. Photo / Getty Images
October 18
A public health expert said "record numbers" for Covid-19 vaccinations on Super Saturday could be put down to staff and community support and commitment.
Ministry of Health data showed 6116 doses had been administered in the Bay of Plenty District Health Board region, as of 9.36pm on Saturday.
On Saturday afternoon, the DHB's senior Covid-19 response officer Brent Gilbert-De Rios said there had been "record numbers way beyond our expectations".
"A huge community effort – it's just been absolutely outstanding."
Gilbert-De Rios gave "a big shout out" to vaccination providers who got behind Super Saturday - a major campaign to encourage New Zealanders to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
She made interim suppression orders around the circumstances of Wainui's death meaning further details cannot be published at this stage.
The confirmation came shortly after Wainui's grieving wife Paige shared an emotional tribute on social media - receiving a tā moko in honour of her late husband.
Maori All Blacks and Chiefs player Sean Wainui, 25, died in a single-vehicle crash at McLaren Falls Park, near Tauranga. Photo / Supplied
October 26
Landlords were brokering deals to fill shop vacancies in Tauranga's struggling CBD.
In contrast, demand for commercial property in Mount Maunganui and the Tauriko Business Estate was soaring - with industrial rents at the Mount increasing by 15 to 25 per cent.
Data showed in September there were 506 occupied sites in the city centre compared to 183 that were empty or under construction. In March 2019 those figures were 422 and 281 respectively.
Colliers International managing director Simon Clark said the CBD was struggling and landlords were coming up with creative ideas to attract tenants.
He said landlords knew the climate would change as multimillion-dollar projects like the Farmers building and a new courthouse came to fruition, so they were playing a waiting game.
More than $10 million worth of consents for new classrooms and teaching blocks in local schools drove up Tauranga's September building consent spend.
A $5.5m consent was issued for a new teaching block at Taumata School, in one of the city's fastest-growing suburbs, while Tauranga City Council also issued a consent worth $3.5m for a new classroom block at Golden Sands School in Pāpāmoa and $1.5m to refurbish one of Tauranga Girls' College's classroom blocks.
The three projects made up more than half of the $18,579,500 of commercial consents issued by Tauranga City Council in September.
