Craig McFadyen speaks about his views on the 350 more houses coming to Ngongotahā.
Hundreds more children are expected in two Rotorua suburbs as social and affordable housing build programmes ramp up but the Ministry of Education has no plans to build more schools.
The population booms expected in Ōwhata and Ngongotahā have one principal predicting a “school crisis”, while anotheris reluctant to sacrifice children’s play spaces to add more classrooms.
The principals – Craig McFadyen of Ngongotahā School and Bob Stiles of Ōwhata Primary School – also agree the new homes will be amazing additions to the community with positive spinoffs for families struggling to find quality homes to rent or buy.
Consenting for the first stage of a 350-home government-led housing development at 31 Ngongotahā Rd is under way and will be considered under fast-track legislation.
More detailed plans are expected to be revealed to locals this month.
If consents are approved, work will start on the first 215 homes on the 15.9ha site at the end of this year. The first stage would take five years and there would be a mix of publicly and privately owned homes.
Government housing agency Kāinga Ora, meanwhile, is behind two developments in Ōwhata. Work has just started on 49 new homes off Mansfield Rd.
They will be among nearly 200 new homes built in the Ōwhata area in the coming years. Kāinga Ora also plans to build 50 to 60 homes on a 3ha Ōwhata Rd site it bought for $2.35 million two years ago, and an iwi-led project will build 93 new homes on former forestry land, also off Ōwhata Rd.
Stiles said the Ministry of Education had recommended he close his roll last year at 279 students. He did that, but it had since triggered a need for more classrooms.
He said he understood he would be getting additional classrooms to cater for 100 more students but he was not sure when.
Ōwhata Primary School principal Bob Stiles. Photo / Ben Fraser
He said that would not be enough to cater for the 200 homes and he predicted there would be a “school crisis” in the years ahead.
“All of these homes will come on in the next couple of years and it takes five years to build a new school.”
He said while his school would be fine as there was little more it could do once he closed the roll, his concern was for the community.
“But I have confidence the people in the ministry in Rotorua will do the best they can.”
Styles said it was wonderful to see new homes finally being built.
“We have 30 whānau in emergency housing or transitional housing in our school. It’s a tentative arrangement and nothing’s guaranteed for them. They get looked after I suppose by the social workers and security and the kids get bused from town to school but it’s not ideal.”
McFadyen said he was originally concerned about the Ngongotahā housing development, specifically the impact it would have on the suburb’s village feel, infrastructure and the land selected for the subdivision.
He attended a public meeting with hundreds of other locals in January and came away feeling uninformed and disappointed.
Since then, he had met with developer Watchman Residential – which was working in partnership with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development; Tawharau builders; local iwi and others – and he said he felt more comfortable with the proposal.
Ngongotahā School principal Craig McFadyen. Photo / Andrew Warner
“The plans they have put in place have taken into consideration many of my initial concerns from flood prevention to infrastructure. We all understand that Rotorua needs more housing and realistically the space available is on the outskirts of the city.”
Ngongotahā School’s roll was 429 students and McFadyen said he was “reluctant” to build too many more classrooms as it would affect the “wonderful play spaces” on the school grounds.
“Ngongotahā School has been the only school in the area for over 112 years and we have families that have been with us for several generations.”
He said the Ministry of Education predicted an additional 90 primary school children from the development but he believed the total could be higher as the houses were marketed to first-home buyers, middle- and low-income earners and young families.
“Bottom line, Rotorua needs housing. Whether you are in favour of this particular development going ahead or not, we need housing for our people. This subdivision will not only provide housing but employment for many locals through Watchman Residential and Tawharau Housing. It is an interesting time for our wonderful community, I will be watching the developments with interest.”
“We not only provide advice and guidance on how proposed housing development might affect a school network but also use the information about future growth to plan the future of that network. Responses to growth include both new classrooms at current schools and, where necessary, new schools.”
The decision on new schooling was part of future investment planning for the ministry and would be considered if necessary in Rotorua in future, Hautū said.
However, there were no planned new schools in Rotorua at this stage.
Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.
