Trust ready to lead way on Taruheru river trail

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Tapuwae Tairāwhiti Trails Trust wants to take the lead role in developing the Taruheru river trail.

Trust chair Lyall Evans has told Gisborne District Council’s operations committee that the trust would not seek council funding.

The organisation could be trusted by council to be efficient and effective and would bring down costs by “a massive scale”, he said,

The council’s focus was elsewhere because of “cyclone after cyclone”.

The trail was not a priority for council and “nor should it be”.

The trust would lead the analysis of the proposed trail and look at all costs and options.

Mr Evans estimated “vital analysis” would take six to eight months.

Trust members, who had been made privy to a previous draft report, would speak to consultants who did the initial work on the trail, and work with council staff in order to consult with the community.

The trust would only want time from council staff, not money.

Mayor Rehette Stoltz said the fact that the trust was not seeking council funding was “music to my ears”.

Mr Evans said a Taruheru River Trail could be like the Oneroa (beachfront) Trail in popularity and usage, “but on steroids”.

There was no plan for such a trail, but it had been on the council’s long-term plan since 2017.

It only existed as a vision “to follow the river”.

Mr Evans described the Taruheru River Trail as part of a wider network starting at Midway with the Oneroa Trail and going through to Campion College.

Another part of the trail would lead back to Midway.

Oneroa was a most successful trail because it took in the surrounding environment of beaches, the river and “space”.

It was safe because it was wide and consisted of a solid surface.

The Taruheru river trail would need to be safe to ensure usage.

It would flow through many city amenities, parks, sports venues and the “centre of the community”.

About 23,000 people could be found within 1.6km of the proposed trail.

The trail would go through the future growth areas of Lytton and Makaraka.

There had been a revolution in e-bike usage, Mr Evans said.

The experience of pupils going to school along Lytton Road and Roebuck Road was like “a nightmare”.

Mr Evans said when most councillors were young, there was 300 percent less traffic on Gisborne roads.

Trust members would speak to consultants who did the initial work on the trail up to 2022, and work with council staff to consult with the community.

Mayor Stoltz said she believed more public consultation might be needed.

One woman had returned to Canada out of frustration after the Oneroa Trail was built.

Much more consultation might be required.

Mr Evans said there had been residents who were very upset over the Oneroa Trail. He did not believe that would happen today.