Hastings District Council seeking feedback from public on 10-year plan for Flaxmere Park

Flaxmere Park as it is currently. Photo/supplied

Hastings District Council is seeking feedback from the public on the Flaxmere Park upgrade.

Seven years into Flaxmere Park's $1.2 million 10-year upgrade plan, Council wants to confirm that priorities set back in 2011 are still what residents want.

Flaxmere is one of the district's five premier parks (as opposed to smaller community and neighbourhood playgrounds) and was the first to undergo a comprehensive upgrade and have a new 10-year plan put together.

In the lead up to the plan being adopted in 2011, lengthy discussions with the community were held. Residents said they wanted to improve the playground, sport and exercise options, accessibility and safety.

That led to a list of 22 items to be implemented over 10 years costed at $1.2 million, with many of the 'big' ones being installed in 2012.

Around $900,000 had been spent over the past seven years in the 17 hectare park, including on the new playground, splash pad, new toilets, fencing, lighting, car parking, picnic furniture and the shared walking and cycling track.

There is a further $300,000 ready to spend, but the projects can be changed if community needs have changed over the years.

At the same time, Council is asking residents if money set aside to reshape and line the pond in the park should go to that project, or be spent on different facilities in the park.

The cost of the pond work is estimated at $250,000.

Councillor Henare O'Keefe said that based on discussions that were had when the plan was set up, the things scheduled are another car park and a road through the park.

It also includes a cycling rest station with weather protection and iWay maps.

"So we are thinking before we go ahead with what is listed in the plan, we will come back to the community and check. Maybe we want to expand the things that have been most popular – such as making the hugely successful splash pad bigger; maybe more play gear – it could be lots of things," Mr O'Keefe said.

Hastings District councillor Jacobi Poulain said council is happy to upgrade the pond if that is what the community wants.

"But we don't want to just go ahead and then find out that we should have been looking at something quite different."

The pond needs to be fully upgraded to include an impervious lining to separate it from the aquifer which lies beneath it. To be able to lay the lining the existing pond will have to be dug out and rebuilt in an even shape, either round of oval, and the island will have to go.

The funding for the pond work will come from Council's water budget, however there is the opportunity to instead use that money for something different in the park.

The park will also become home to five more exercise stations in the coming months.

That will take the number of exercise stations around the 1.3km perimeter track to seven.

"It is great news that this equipment is on the way," said Mr O'Keefe.

"We will have no excuse now not to get out there and enjoy our beautiful park which really is the heart of our community," she said.