Category Archives: Meetings

Notes of the August 2024 Meeting

Local Events, Meetings, News

The meeting was held on Monday 19th August at the St Thomas’s Community Lounge. This is quite a long post because of the number of discussions and news items.

Association President Rhona Carson welcomed everyone, particularly our Council representatives DM Laurie Foon and Cr Nureddin Abdurahman, and introduced Jesse Gale to talk about MacAlistair Park restoration.

MacAlister Park Restoration Group
Jesse Gale attended to introduce this mahi to the group. Geoff Simmons, the group convenor who made the initial approach, was unable to attend. Geoff, and friend Ed Hearnshaw (now deceased), started the group (called ‘Charlie’s Angels’) around ten years ago to restore the Prince of Wales Park. They group has applied to WCC for funding for new tools, but as they aren’t a legal entity they need another group to ‘umbrella’ this, and they are asking if the Residents’ Association can provide this – which we agreed to.      

There are about 20 adult members, with other whānau, who go out about once a month to return gorse and unusable land to native bush. The plants are provided by the Council. The exact days of activity vary; they are usually a weekend day. If anyone is interested in getting involved Geoff Simmons is the contact – geoffsimmonz@gmail.com.  Map reference link

Berhampore and Newtown West Parking
Rhona had asked for feedback about the Parking Plan, and had received written and verbal reports from some people unable to be at the meeting.  These were positive, with the people concerned finding it much easier to park outside their homes. Those at the meeting were generally in agreement.

Some are unhappy about the need to pay for a parking permit, and wonder why Newtown and Berhampore are the first suburbs with this requirement. Cr Nureddin explained some of the background to the parking changes, particularly why Newtown was the first suburb to get these changes.  Rhona summed up the history of parking concerns in Newtown, with requests for more residents space for parking.  

A question was raised about whether the rules applied on public holidays.  DM Laurie will check this out. There are no CBD parking restrictions on public holidays.  

Newtown Community Consortium Meeting at Black Coffee, July 26th
This meeting was organised by Duncan McLean and Paige Simoneau from the Newtown Business Group. The purpose of the meeting was to gather ideas, voice concerns and create partnerships within the community for support and safety. There was a very good attendance with nearly 50 people present, including representatives from various agencies –social services, WCC, Police and others – and many local residents.

DM Laurie Foon and Penny Sturgess both went to the meeting and reported their impressions of it. There was a lot of positive feeling for Newtown, but also many concerns about safety and security.
DM Laurie added that Downtown Community Ministries (DCM) are out on the streets, and she has been very impressed with their work.  It is better to donate to DCM than to beggars. The Fixit App is very useful to log any troubling events (but call 111 if there are threats to safety).
There is likely to be a Community Cleanup event on 15 September. [Now confirmed].

Interest in Emmett and Green Streets having Historic Heritage designations
DM Laurie and Cr Nureddin have been talking with local people about progressing this mahi.

Wellington Heritage Festival
Alex Hockley (Wellington Heritage Festival CEO) reported that the brochure of events would be released soon. About 150 events are being held throughout the region.  Twelve are in Newtown, and six of these have been initiated by the Newtown Residents’ Association – there will be more information about these coming soon. The Festival is running from 26 October to 17 November.

Newtown Mini-Events
Newtown Festival has arranged with WCC for Wilson Street and Newtown Avenue to be able to be closed a few times a year for live events.  These will be well publicised ahead of time. An advance notice – the Latino Community are organising a Day of the Dead Festival to be held on Saturday 2 November outside Viva Mexico, in the Wilson St carpark.

Newtown Festival Sunday 2nd March 2025
More than 240 people have already applied for stalls (about 400 are expected), and expressions of interest for performers are coming in. See https://www.newtownfestival.org.nz/ for both those links.

Cancer Society Relay for Life
The Society are interested in having this at Newtown Park in March next year; still to be decided.

Wellington Airport Regional Community Awards
Congratulations to Newtown Tool Library who got runner-up for the environment awards. See here for the list of winners. [Additional note – Wellington Community Choir who rehearse at Te Whaea at 7pm on Wednesdays were the runner up in the Arts and Culture category, and several other local organisations including Smart Newtown, Quick Kai, Wellington Timebank (all from Newtown Community Centre) and Wellington City Mission were finalists. Congratulations to all involved!]

Te Aro Zero Waste
The Sustainability Trust and Wellington City Council have created a partnership to offer more services. Instead of making the trip to the WCC Landfill Tip Shop you can now go to the Sustainability Trust premises at 2 Forresters Lane to drop off items for recycling or reuse, purchase secondhand items, and more. See https://sustaintrust.org.nz/tearozerowaste. Open hours Wednesday – Saturday 10am – 4pm.

Affordability for Sports in Wellington
Cr Nurredin informed us that a report has been prepared on this subject and will be reviewed by Council soon.

Gillies McIndoe Research Institute – 7 Hospital Road
Graeme Carroll drew our attention to an important recent activity at GMRI.  Dr Swee Tan, the lead researcher on the Glioblastoma Phase II clinical trial is recruiting patients recently diagnosed with glioblastoma as participants. The trial will investigate a safe combination of repurposed drugs that is hypothesised to regulate cancer stem cells. If you wish to know more about the Phase II trial, see https://www.facebook.com/GMRINZ/  – a post from July 22 – or email info@gmri.org.nz for more information.

177 Owen Street (previously known as Workingmen’s Bowling Club) redevelopment
The bowling club club rooms have been demolished and work is progressing on creating the new Park, including extensive sound checking to determine the optimal stage placement.

Newtown Residents’ Association Membership
Rhona reminded people that the new financial year started on July 1st and membership renewals are now due. The Membership Form is here. There are also paper membership forms available at meetings.

See the full minutes below.

Minutes NRA Meeting August 2024

Notes of the July 2024 meeting

Meetings, News
  • Carol Comber updated the meeting with progress at Mount Cook Mobilised and Mt Cook Connect. Newtown Residents’ Association has an umbrella agreement with MCM for funding applications, as MCM are not an incorporated society, and Carol is the contact person involved with both Associations.
  • There was a discussion on the initial effect of changes to Berhampore parking. The parking changes appeared to be working OK so far, with a lot of free car parks, but the plan had only been operational for a short time.
  • Progress on 177 Owen Street redevelopment into a public park. Removal of the old buildings was underway at the time of the meeting.
  • Safety in Newtown – two months ago two Newtown focused police officers came to the Association meeting, and recently we have heard that there are City Council Safety Officers focussing on what is going on in Newtown, and working with DCM and local police. It was noted that there seemed to be fewer safety concerns over the past month. However there was a ram-raid at the Coromandel Dairy during the night on Wednesday 10 July.  A speeding car crashed through and broke the doors then took off again. Nothing was taken.
  • Newtown Residents’ Association Constitution. The Incorporated Societies Act 2022 requires all societies to re-register by 2026, and we are planning to have an updated Constitution ready to present to our AGM in September.  We talked about updating the Association’s Objectives, and a couple of volunteers agreed to have a look at this.

See the full minutes below.

Minutes of the Newtown Residents’ Association Meeting 15 July 2024Download

Notes from the June Meeting

Consultation, Meetings, News

This meeting was on June 17th 2024. These were the topics discussed.

The Parking Scheme for Berhampore and West Newtown – due to start on Monday 24th June.

Attendees affected by the new parking scheme talked about their experiences of applying for permits, and their concerns. DM Laurie Foon took notes, in order to follow up with the WCC Officers responsible for the scheme.

Laurie Foon passed on some information

-for the first 3 weeks of the scheme only warning tickets will be issued.

– there will be a review of the scheme after the first 6 months.

The new park at 177 Owen St

This is the former Workingmen’s Bowling Club site. When the WCC Councillors discussed the Park proposal on June 6th they agreed that the existing club buildings could be demolished (too costly to fix) and the site developed into a neighbourhood park for community use and small events. There is already $1,500,000 in the budget for this. Cr Nureddin Abdurahman proposed an amendment to request that toilets be included, but when put to the vote the result was 9 for and 9 against, with the Chairperson’s casting vote being against. The official Council policy is that toilets aren’t needed because there are other public toilets within 5 mins walk – at Newtown Park.

Since the Council meeting Rhona Carson, Steve Dunn, Cheryl Robilliard and Jane Patterson have had a meeting with Sanjay Patel and David Halliday, the WCC Officers overseeing the project, to discuss the plans further. The intention is for demolition of the buildings to start in the near future, and the redevelopment to happen within the year. The plan is for a large open space for general recreation and events, including BBQs, seating, a children’s play area and a stage.  There is some continuing discussion about the best position for the stage.

The discussion at the meeting agreed that the decision not to include toilets was short-sighted. The Association is likely to to look for an opportunity to have this reconsidered.

Community Garden at Carrara Park

Currently the plots are kept in order by a few neighbours (who are Association members), but new gardeners would be welcomed. Recently the Association applied to the WCC Community Garden Fund (known as Stone Soup) for a grant, and have received $115 (inc gst) to be spent on compost, seeds, seedings etc for refurbishing the beds.

Wellington Heritage Festival

Assciation President Rhona Carson is still in the process of gathering information for a series of applications for events during the Festival in October-November.

Alex Hockley, the WHF CEO, said that there were about 140 events confirmed so far, with several from Newtown.

Judicial Review

There was a brief discussion of the news that the Live Wellington Trust has filed for a Judicial Review of the WCC decision to reject the District Plan Independent Hearings Panel recommendations about the extent of Character Precincts in inner city suburbs.

See the full minutes here.Download

Notes from the Newtown Residents’ Association May Meeting 

Meetings, News

This meeting was held on Monday May 20th 2024, at St Thomas’s Community Lounge.

President Rhona Carson welcomed meeting attendees, introduced guests Community Police Officers Sergeant Mike Byrne and Constable Ash Sutherland, and thanked Cr Nureddin Abdurahman for coming after a long day of Long Term Plan hearings.

Cr Nureddin advised that the Workingman’s Bowling Club building is likely to be demolished, although he opposes this. It was noted that this was after being abandoned for a number of years.  There will be a Council report on this subject soon, and a WCC Social and Economic Committee meeting on 29th May to discuss the report and vote on the way forward.

Cr Nureddin asked for views on the Long Term Plan suggestion of charging for parking in suburban centres – including Newtown.

Community Policing
Mike Byrne and Ash Sutherland talked about the role of the Community Policing Team. There are five officers covering most of South and East Wellington, and Ash is assigned to Newtown.

Ash introduced the topic of people being concerned about those sleeping and begging around Newtown. There was discussion of some specific examples of reactions from and concern about these people. Synthetic cannabis use is currently a significant issue in Newtown.  Mike suggested a YouTube video entitled Seattle is Dying.

The Community Policing team are not ‘reactive’.  Calls to 111 or other urgent calls are usually assigned to offer areas of police who deal with front-line, short-term actions. Community Policing takes a wider view of what is going on in the community, working on long-term solutions along with various agencies who can help.
Mike advised that there are two phone numbers to call police on:

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Electric Scooters
There was a recent meeting with Ralph Sheppard, Community Relationship Manager for Flamingo Scooters.  The main point is to report problems to the Council using their FixIt app, saying where and when  the scooter is causing a problem, and the brand.  Ralph is confident that Flamingo will get these notifications and take action. They can caution the hirers, and prevent them from hiring if they are persistent offenders. It was noted that Flamingo (the pink scooters) is one of two brands of scooters for hire, the other being Beam. There are also privately owned scooters.

Heritage Week this year will be marked by a number of talks and exhibitions in Newtown. 

See here for the full minutes.Download

Notes from the March 2024 Meeting

Consultation, Local Events, Meetings, News

We met at the St Tom’s Community Lounge on Monday March 18th.  These were some of the issues discussed –

District Plan
The recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel with regard to character precincts and the City Centre Boundary were rejected by a majority of WCC Councillors, who passed amendments to revert to the boundary and precincts which were in the Proposed District Plan.

The next and final step is that Chris Bishop, as the responsible Government Minister, will decide whether to accept the WCC recommendations or to endorse the IHP recommendations. 

There was a brief recap of the preferred Newtown Housing proposal for intensification, mostly in the suburban centre.

Road Safety 
A resident from Roy St pointed out the lack of pedestrian crossings in Newtown. There is particular concern about the safety of children in the area. The meeting agreed to look at following up this issue.

Water Leaks
Wellington South Community Patrol recently counted 36 leaks. Tom Law outlined some examples. 

Festival Feedback 
There was strong support and thanks for everyone, particularly Marion Leighton and others who were instrumental in providing an excellent morning tea for official guests. 

Wellington Heritage Festival 
Alex Hockley, CEO of the Wellington Heritage Festival Trust, outlined plans for this festival, noting that there is more time this year – from Saturday 26th October until Sunday 17th November.

There was considerable interest in potential events in Newtown. Examples include walking tours, static talks, open buildings etc. 
Telling stories inside the buildings they apply to will add to the making the story more compelling. 
Expressions of interest are required by the end of April. 
Rhona volunteered to contact Newtown Community Centre, Newtown School and the Zoo, to see if other organisations are thinking of participating, and/or have ideas to suggest.

See the full minutes here.Download

Minutes of the October meeting 2023

Consultation, Meetings, News

This meeting was held at 7.30pm on Monday 16 October 2023 at the Community Lounge, behind St Thomas’s Church, 200 Riddiford St. These were some of the topics covered –

Merania Roa, the candidate for Vision NZ in the recent Rongotai Election, thanked us for the invitation to our Meet The Candidates meeting.

Kāinga Ora’s new developments in Newtown – people are moving into the new apartments in Owen St.

Carrara Park Toilets Petition and the positive response from the Councillors.

Water Leaks – the Community Patrol has reported 165 leaks across parts of the city. One piece of good news – a longstanding leak in Rhodes St has been fixed.

Berhampore and Newtown Parking Scheme – a large part of the meeting was devoted to discussion of concerns with the details of the scheme.

See the full minutes here.

Minutes of the 2023 AGM.

Meetings, News

This meeting was held on Monday September 18th at the St Thomas’s Community Lounge.

The meeting received the President’s Annual Report and the Treasurer’s Financial Report.

The following people were elected unopposed as Officers of the Association:

President:  Rhona Carson

Vice Presidents:  Jane Patterson and Martin Hanley

Secretary: Rhona Carson 

Treasurer:  Michelle Wolland 

Committee: Carol Comber, Steve Cosgrove, Marion Leighton, Sam Somers, Penny Sturgess, Hilary Watson

The main other topic was a discussion of the need for Constitutional Changes, required by the Incorporated Societies Act 2022. A copy of proposed changes to meet the new requirements was circulated. These will be considered during the year and voted on at the 2024 AGM.

The AGM being concluded the meeting went on to discuss arrangements for the Meet the Candidates Meeting to be held on September 25th.

NRA Minutes 2023 AGM

The 2023 Annual General Meeting Notice

Meetings, News

This meeting will be on Monday September 18th, 7.30-9.0pm., at the Community Lounge, St Thomas’s Church, 200 Riddiford St.

The AGM is when we discuss the year’s activities.elect the Association’s officers for 2023-24, and plan for the future. 

Agenda:

Apologies

Minutes of the NRA AGM 2022 to be approved (please review – the minutes will be taken as read at the meeting)
Matters arising from the minutes – if any

The Presidents’ Report to the 2023 AGM

President’s Report

The Treasurer’s Report and Annual Accounts

Treasurer’s Report and presentation of accounts for 2022-23

Election of Officers

  • President
  • Up to three Vice-Presidents
  • Secretary
  • Treasurer
  • Up to nine (9) committee members

Review of Constitution changes, as required by the Incorporated Societies Act 2022
See here – 
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2022/0012/latest/LMS100892.html
and a summary of the 1908 Act compared to the 2022 Act: https://is-register.companiesoffice.govt.nz/law-changes-for-societies/key-changes/

The Current Rules of the Newtown Residents’ Association

A copy of the Rules at present.

Draft Revision of the Newtown Residents’ Association Constitution

A proposed Draft of a Revised Constitution

Any other business.

Minutes of the August 2023 Meeting

Consultation, Meetings, News

Notes from the meeting.

This meeting was held on Monday August 21st, 7.30pm at the St Tom’s Community Lounge, 200 Riddiford St.

Association President Rhona Carson opened the meeting by thanking everyone who helped with the Newtown Residents’ Association 60th Anniversary Celebration on 29th July.

She then introduced the visiting speakers.

Kāinga Ora – Josh Clark introduced himself as the Stakeholder Relationship Manager for the Wellington Area. He outlined the housing developments either under construction or planned for Newtown and the surrounding area. These include 80 homes in Rolleston St, which are almost completed, and 301 homes at Arlington St where construction is in the early stages.

In Newtown 36 homes at 175 Owen Street are in the final stages before completion. There will be an open day for the community in November. In addition work is underway on 21 homes at 131 Coromandel St & 9 at 124-130 Coromandel St 

Newtown to Berhampore transport project and Newtown Parking Plan

Bri Peters, Nicola, and Paul Barker from the WCC Transport project team outlined the three parts of these plans.

Metlink bus priority plan looks at improvements to Bus Stops and the way they are designed.

The Newtown to Berhampore Cycleway will run from Riddiford St through Rintoul St, Luxford St and Adelaide Rd. to join the Island Bay cycleway.

The Parking Management Plan follows from the city-wide plan and parking priorities which were approved in 2020. The proposal is that a large proportion of what is currently unlimited on-street parking parking will be designated P120, with no time limit for residents holding a residents’ parking permit. It is recognised that this will be a big change for hospital staff currently parking on the street, and WCC and the Hospital have been consulting about this.

Public consultation on all 3 parts of the project will start on September 12th and run till October 8th.  

See the full minutes here.

Minutes of the July 2023 Meeting

Consultation, Local Events, Meetings, News

Notes from the meeting held at the St Tom’s Community Lounge, July 17th 2023.

The meeting agenda included:

Newtown Residents’ Association’s 60th Anniversary Celebrations

The Celebration will be on Saturday 29th July, with an Open Day for the public to view displays while the Market is open. From 2:30pm – 4:30pm people will be invited to gather in the Hall for afternoon tea, with speeches and cake-cutting from 3pm.

The meeting discussed the information to be displayed during the ‘open day’ part of the event, and the arrangements for the celebratory afternoon tea.

Changes to Incorporated Societies Act 2022

The impression is that NRA already covers off many of these provisions, and that many of the other requirements can be updated in the constitution fairly easily.

New requirements in the Act include that the association must have a disputes resolution process; and there are requirements about who is qualified to be an Officer of a Society. In some circumstances members will be disqualified from being committee officers, e.g. a conviction for a dishonesty related offence.

[The full Act: https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2022/0012/latest/LMS100892.html

A summary of the 1908 Act compared to the 2022 Act: https://is-register.companiesoffice.govt.nz/law-changes-for-societies/key-changes/

The section on the grounds for officer discharge: https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2022/0012/latest/LMS100915.html#LMS100915 The text of this section 47 of the Act is included at the end of the minutes.]

When the Anniversary Festivities are over we will start work on revising the Constitution, and hopefully will have this ready to be voted on at our AGM in September.

WCC Community Facilities Review – https://www.letstalk.wellington.govt.nz/wellingtons-community-facilities Submissions on the draft plan are due  by 5pm on Monday 7th August.

The meeting discussed various comments about Newtown included in the draft plan. The proposal for Newtown is to “Undertake a suburb-wide needs assessment and feasibility study to assess the optimal network of functional, cohesive and sustainable facilities.”

It was suggested that this review is an opportunity to reopen the request for toilets in Carrara Park, and that a petition (and/or WCC e-petition) would be a good way to gather support from the community (including taking the petition to nearby childcare centres).

See here for the full minutes.

Minutes of the June 2023 Meeting

Local Events, Meetings, News, Works

Notes from the meeting held at the St Tom’s Community Lounge, June 19th 2023.

Rowena Tun, Wellington Timebank Kaiwhakahaere/Coordinator, spoke about what the Timebank is and how to join. To get more information, or talk about joining, go to the website https://www.wellingtontimebank.org.nz/, or phone Rowena for an appointment at the
Newtown Community Centre – Te Whare Hapori o Ngā Puna Waiora, or see her at Newtown Library on Wednesdays 3-6 info@wellingtontimebank.org.nz .

Sean Woodcock (Wellington City Council) & Sergey Kaglyak & Dan Ormond (Wellington Water) were welcomed to the meeting. They talked about plans to start renewing Newtown’s waste water network in August 2023. There was also discussion about continuing issues with water leaks. Use this map to find the status of leaks that WW know about: https://www.wellingtonwater.co.nz/resources/maps/job-status-map/

Yadana Saw, Greater Wellington Regional Councillor, was unable to be at the meeting but had provided information to be passed on.

  • Transport: Half price fares for Community Services Card holders start on 1 July. Free public transport for Under 13s and half price fares for 13-25yrs begin on 1 August; adult fares (apart from CSC holders) return to full price that day.
  • Community Planting Days:  Winter planting season is upon us. Please follow this link for information on the GWRC planting events in the region: https://www.gw.govt.nz/your-region/get-involved/winter-planting-2023/

DM Laurie Foon advised that two weeks after the Loafers Lodge cordon is removed on Adelaide Rd, the bus lanes will be enforced. And also, resource consent processing is taking time – email Laurie if you have a particular concern.

The meeting was reminded that on Saturday 29th July the Residents’ Association will be celebrating 60 years of being an Incorporated Society.

See the full minutes hereDownload

Minutes of the May 2023 Meeting

Consultation, Local Events, Meetings, News

Notes from the Newtown Residents’ Association meeting 15 May 2023.

Information from WCC about Newtown Parking Plan, Newtown to Island Bay transitional cycleway and Berhampore village upgrade. 

Vida Christeller, Manager City Design, and Seb Bishop from the Engagement Team attended the meeting to talk about these projects. This was a preliminary discussion, to be followed up in July or August, with formal consultation in September. An information sheet was circulated outlining the process. [The link given in the sheet is out of date. Use this instead for further information- https://www.transportprojects.org.nz/current/berhampore-to-newtown/]

Newtown Parking Plan: At present there are very few parking restrictions in Newtown or Berhampore, meaning that a lot of the parking is taken up by commuters. The expectation for the future Newtown Parking Plan is that much of the parking will be P120 with Residents exempt, with exceptions as appropriate. The formal consultation about the proposals will be in September.

There will also be consultation in September for extending bus and bike road space between Newtown and Island Bay. Seb drew our attention to a report available on consultation regarding bike lane space.  This can be downloaded from: https://www.transportprojects.org.nz/assets/Berhampore-to-Newtown/B2N-BaselineSurvey-Report-22Dec22_FINAL.pdf

Wellington Hospital is working with Council discussing options, particularly regarding parking.

There were numerous comments and questions from the meeting attendees, many about Newtown parking pressures. This included issues about residents’ parking permits – the cost ($195 pa), and the fact that there are many more permits issued than spaces available – which will be addressed in the plan. There will be a variety of priorities regarding who can purchase resident parking permits and who can get an exemption.

What is Reveal?  Rhona Carson, Association President, has had an email saying ​​Reveal will be collecting data along Rintoul St, Luxford St, Adelaide Rd, The Parade, and Reef Street between May 21st and June 9th, but it’s not clear what Reveal is and what the investigation is about. Vida and Seb were not entirely sure, but will find out. [Update from Seb – “This is a project that uses penetrating radar to help see what’s beneath the road. This will produce an accurate map of all the utilities underground which will be extremely useful as we plan and design projects for our city.  You can find out at https://www.reveal.nz/”]

Rhona thanked Vida and Seb for coming to the meeting. We will look forward to further information in the coming months.

An update about the  Proposed District Plan hearings.

There is a lot of information on the Council website regarding the Proposed District Plan – see https://wellington.govt.nz/your-council/plans-policies-and-bylaws/district-plan/proposed-district-plan.

The PDP is now being considered by Resource Management Commissioners.  This is happening in phases, with numerous different streams about different topics. Rhona has made oral submissions on behalf of the Association on Stream 1 – Strategic Direction and Stream 2 – Residential Zones, based on what was in our original submission. Currently those who commented on heritage are being heard – this is stream 3. 

Stream 4 starts on June 20th [now delayed until June 22nd]. This covers Centres (ie City Centre Zone, Local Centre Zone, etc). Kainga Ora has made a submission proposing that Newtown should be designated a Town Centre, with buildings up to 36m permitted.  Many in the Association believe that there is already more land designated than is required, and allowing more height won’t increase the housing supply but potentially will result in a few large blocks shading everything around them. We intend to argue against the KO proposal. Let Rhona know if you would like to be more involved in this topic – email newtownwellington@gmail.com.

Ideas for celebrating the Newtown Residents’ Association 60th Anniversary on Saturday July 29th.

The ideas discussed mostly centred around commemorating Newtown’s history. There was a proposal to book a venue for the day, as a base for displays and activities.

People are needed for an organising group for the Anniversary celebrations.  Please think about this, and contact newtownwellington@gmail.com if you are interested.

Newtown Community Centre

The Centre was reopened on May 12th. Tom Law noted that there were to be Open Days 5-7pmThursday 18th May and 2-4pm Sunday 21st May.

The next meeting will be on Monday June 19th.

See the full minutes hereDownload

Minutes of the April 2023 meeting

Consultation, Local Events, Meetings, News
See the full minutes here.

Notes of the Newtown Residents Association Meeting, Monday 17 April 2023
Rhona Carson (Association President) welcomed everyone and introduced Katie Sharp, Advisor – Community Resilience and Recovery, from Wellington Region Emergency Management Office (WREMO).

The first part of the meeting was about planning for future events

  • Meet the Candidates Meeting for the General Election. It was agreed to hold a meeting on Monday 25th September, at the Salvation Army Hall in Newtown.   
  • Emergency Response Practice at the Newtown Community Emergency Hub (at Newtown School). Katie Sharp spoke to this. She proposes meeting on a Sunday, she will look at suitable dates and get back to us.
  • Proposed Newtown History Walk. The meeting discussed possible approaches to exploring Newtown’s history, including pre-european oral history and sites of significance. A small goup volunteered to form a planning group to take this further.
  • Clean up Newtown events. There is potential for organising more of these events but they need someone – or a group – to coordinate them. See the full minutes for further discussion about cleanliness issues in Newtown.

Newtown Community and Cultural Centre progress. Tom Law (Chair of the NCCC Trust) reported that the reopening will be on 15 May.

WCC Annual Plan

Rhona circulated copies of the engagement document – provided by Newtown Library. Also printed copies of the Submission Form – which can also be found online. Noted that apart from Q1 – Do you have any overall feedback about the 2023/24 Annual Plan –  and Q2 about proposed changes to the Rates Rebate, all the other questions are about feedback about a variety of new or increased fees.  See https://www.letstalk.wellington.govt.nz/annual-plan-2023-24 for more information.

The work to be done this year was already agreed in the last Long Term Plan. The engagement document sumarises the planned activities. There are only a few which directly affect Newtown.

The Annual Plan consultation closes on April 30th.

Greater Wellington Regional Council Annual Plan – GWRC Cr Yadana Saw outlined this consultation.

See more at https://haveyoursay.gw.govt.nz/2023-24annualplan. Submissions close on April 26th.

Minutes of the 2023 March Meeting

Consultation, Meetings, News

This meeting was on March 20th at the St Thomas’s community lounge, 200 Riddiford St. Julie-Ann Genter, Green Party list MP and now the Green Party candidate for the Rongotai Electorate, attended to introduce herself. She outlined her past experience in the Green Party and in Parliament. In summary she believes that only the Green Party in Parliament will see improvements in climate change policies.

Other business discussed included a discussion about WCC funding priorities (with input from Cr Nureddin Abdurahman), and a reminder about WCC consultations about the Open Space and Recreation Strategy and about the future of the ex-bowling club land at 177 Owen St.

See here for the full minutes.Download