Thames emerges from 10 years of cutbacks and stagnation

By ELIZABETH BINNING

After 10 years of little growth, there are signs that the once-prosperous town of Thames is waking up.

Unemployment has dropped, the hospital's future has been assured with news of a $20 million upgrade and businesses that recently cut back are talking of expanding and hiring staff.

The first stage of a stormwater upgrade has been completed, beautification of the main centre has been underway for about two years and construction of a new runway at the Thames Airfield is expected to begin next July.

Thames councillor Brian Sharp said the town suffered when the hospital lost its 24-hour, seven-day-a-week services in 1998, and the Toyota assembly plant cut back around the same time.

"The combination of those two put Thames into a bit of a recession, and really it limped along for about five years and missed a massive price rise in property values that the rest of the peninsula and Auckland went through."

However, with news that the hospital is to be upgraded, there has been a renewed interest in Thames. Real estate agents say many older people, especially those on the other side of the peninsula, are considering moving to Thames to be closer to the hospital.

Mr Sharp said Thames' location - just over an hour from Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga - had always been a drawcard for the town, which had doubled as a service centre for those going on to other parts of the peninsula.

The problem, however, had been its location between a mountain range and the sea - leaving little room for residential or industrial growth. As a result the population had grown by only 5 per cent in 10 years, while places such as Whitianga, Tairua and Whangamata all grew by more than 25 per cent. The Thames Coromandel District Council is in the middle of a community planning exercise to address some of those problems.

Area manager Mike Martin said the main focus would be on industrial and economic development. A consultant was due to start work soon, looking at some of the possible areas where growth could occur.

The obvious area of interest was south of town.

If land could be rezoned and secured for future growth, the town's projected population growth over the next 20 years was expected to rise above the present prediction of just 7 per cent. "Thames is going forward," said Mr Martin. "It may not have the huge exponential increase that has occurred on the other side [of the peninsula] but Thames and Coromandel are going ahead in a quiet, unassuming and managed fashion."

Members of the business community welcomed the planning exercise, which they said had long been needed. Thames Timber operations leader Mary Hamilton said the lack of land was a problem for Thames but one that could be resolved if land to the south of the town was set aside.

Once that land was rezoned, there would be no shortage of businesses willing to move to Thames. Ms Hamilton said business was already looking up for Thames Timber, which last year laid off 100 people.

In the past two months the family company had hired six new staff and there were plans to employ up to 30 more people in the next few months.