Whangārei Long-Term Plan consultation begins after Easter break - Vince Cocurullo

There were lots of events on this Easter, including the always-popular Waipū Easter Carnival. Photo / Michael Cunningham

OPINION

I hope you all had an awesome Easter break and that you had a chance to rest, recuperate and enjoy the hospitality of Northland.

This Easter weekend had so many different events on, including the Easter services provided by various denominations, along with community events such as the always-popular Waipū Easter Carnival, the Tūtūkākā Night Markets and the long-running Whangārei Heads Arts Trail.

It was wonderful to have the Brynderwyns open for Easter too, allowing more visitors to access our region. The latest updates show that 127,000 cubic metres of soil have been moved so far, which is equivalent to 18 rugby fields worth of soil. That’s an impressive amount!

Even with the Brynderwyns route repaired, you can rest assured that nothing will stop us continuing our push for the four-lane expressway, as this is a key piece of infrastructure that is desperately needed for Northland’s growth and resilience.

On the topic of resilience, it was good to have Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell visit Whangārei on Friday March 22.

He was announcing the much-needed additional funding to complete the new multi-agency co-ordination centre to be constructed behind the Bank Street Whangārei Fire Station. This building will encourage a better flow of communication and more efficient response times between all emergency services and councils within the Northland region, when another disaster happens.

This time last year, we were talking about the upcoming International Rally of Whangārei and how nice it would be to have a race car sitting inside the foyer of the council’s new building.

While the rally has moved its event to later in the year, NaZCAR Mega have secured Whangārei’s first-ever two-day inner-city street sprint (planned for April 6-7) and have organised one of their cars to be based at the new civic centre on Rust Ave this week from Tuesday.

The latest updates show that 127,000 cubic metres of soil have been moved at the Brynderwyns so far, which is equivalent to 18 rugby fields worth of soil. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Stop by our building at 9 Rust Ave and while picking up your Long-Term Plan consultation documents, get an up close and personal look at one of these speed machines, provided by Tony Wheeler, one of our local drivers and organisers of the event.

Just like the hugely popular Taste Whangārei multi-cultural food fair, these events are a great way to liven up the city centre in a family-friendly way.

Over the next month you’ll be seeing lots of discussion about the Whangarei District Council’s Long-Term Plan 2024-34. We have drop-in sessions planned from April 4 to April 11 at Hikurangi, Parua Bay, Ruakākā and here at the civic building, Te Iwitahi.

We’d love to get your feedback on our proposed plan for the next 10 years. Would you like to have more events in Whangārei? Would you like to see more money spent on roads, or do you want council investing in more infrastructure for growth? Now is the time to let us know.

Give us your feedback online and see the full list of community sessions on the Whangārei District Council website at www.wdc.govt.nz/HaveYourSay.