Hanging baskets in Whanganui’s CBD could disappear after 30 years

Mainstreet chief executive Des Warahi says retaining only summer baskets will cost $30,000 annually. Photo / Bevan Conley

Hundreds of hanging baskets in Whanganui’s CBD could soon disappear, with Whanganui District Council already cancelling its winter order.

The move comes as it looks for ways to keep the upcoming rates rise down.

According to the council’s Long-Term Plan (LTP) consultation document, doing away with them will save $93,000 annually.

Mainstreet currently installs winter and summer baskets, totalling 500 between both seasons.

General manager Des Warahi confirmed the cancelled winter order when he spoke during public hearings on the LTP last week.

“When we went through a tender process, we actually recommended to council officers [replacing] the winter baskets - take them out of the equation as part of cost savings,” Warahi said.

“To hear that [all of the] baskets [will be] gone is a little bit of a shock, to be honest.”

He said it would cost approximately $30,000 to retain 200 summer baskets - at intersections and on gas lights.

“Less baskets, more quality, that’s what I’m looking for.

The baskets brought vibrancy and beauty to the central city, Warahi said.

“As you travel around the country, you’ll go to different places, and some of them are pretty grotty.

“If you come to Whanganui, there is the beauty of our CBD, and those baskets are part of it.”

Mainstreet Whanganui general manager Des Warahi.

According to the LTP consultation document, keeping the baskets will add $5 per property per year to rates.

Warahi said CBD businesses and building owners already paid around 50 per cent of the costs through targeted rates.

Whanganui resident Vicki Humphries told elected members during the public hearings she was shocked the cancellation of the baskets was made before consultation on the LTP was complete.

Council deliberations start next month, with the LTP signed off before July 1.

Humphries said the cancellation made submitting on the baskets “a bit of a pointless exercise”.

“What about the [council’s] long-term strategic plan submission statement? ‘No decisions have been made yet so your feedback is important’,” she said.

“The baskets [have been] a significant part of the CBD’s atmosphere, visual presence and tourist appeal for the past 30 years.

“They make our city recognisable in the minds and [memories] of local and visiting people.”

Whanganui Floral Art Group member Joy McGregor told councillors the baskets were initiated 30 years ago and that inspired many other towns to follow suit.

“If the baskets are removed, lots of websites and brochures are going to have to be changed,” she said.

“There will be a lot of disappointed and disillusioned tourists.

“The prospect of Whanganui without the hanging baskets is depressing. It would seem that we have lost pride in our appearance.”

McGregor said there was watering infrastructure in place to cater to the baskets and it would be wasted if they were taken away.

The current contractor for the baskets is in Havelock North.

Warahi said he had spent months investigating whether it was possible to employ someone locally but the required numbers were too high.

Providing 200 only meant a local contractor was now a possibility.

“We are always for buying local. That makes sense.”

An order for the summer baskets needed to be put in very quickly for them to be ready for December - “in time for the Christmas parade, basically”, he said.

McGregor said she had not been inspired by the current baskets over the last couple of years.

“Maybe it’s transporting flowers all the way from Hawke’s Bay, I don’t know.

“We do have talented growers here.”

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present, his focus is local government, primarily Whanganui District Council.