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.

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

The meeting agenda included:

Newtown Residents’ Association’s 60^th Anniversary Celebrations

The Celebration will be on Saturday 29^th 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 7^th 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).

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 22^nd]. 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 18^th May and 2-4pm Sunday 21^st May.

The next meeting will be on Monday June 19th.

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 25^th 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.

• Wastewater Network Renewals
• Parking management plans
• Former Workingmen’s Bowling Club Newtown. This consultation closes on April 27^th. See https://www.letstalk.wellington.govt.nz/bowling-club-newtown.
• Rates Rebates. The meeting is in favour of increases to the rebate for low income rate payers.

The Annual Plan consultation closes on April 30^th.

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 26^th.

This meeting was held at the Community Lounge at St Thomas’s Church on Monday 15th August. These are notes from the discussion, see below for the full minutes.

WCC Waste Minimization Plan

WCC has a Draft Waste Management and Minimisation Action Plan. The expectation is that WCC will set up a working party about this, we are waiting to hear more.  We are interested to hear from people who would like to be part of this consultation.

‘Meet the Candidates’ Meetings

Greater Wellington Regional Council has 12 candidates, there are 9 candidates for Mayor,  Paekwakawa / Southern Ward has 10 candidates and the Māori Ward 3 candidates.

GWRC candidates are not invited to as many meetings as City Council candidates, but the issues GWRC are involved in have a big impact – e.g. public transport, LGWM, Wellington Water. The meeting agreed that a separate meeting for GWRC was a good idea; potential dates are 12^th or 13^th September.

We agreed to inviting Paekawakawa/Southern General Ward & Te Whanganui-a-Tara Māori Ward candidates to a meeting on 26^th September, but were undecided about having the Mayoral candidates as well because of the large number of people that would be involved. There might be options for a separate meeting with the Mayoral candidates, or for attending one of the other meetings in the city. Sam Somers has organised an online ‘Its in the Ballot’ meeting for Mayoral candidates on September 7^th.

It was decided that we would not have supper at the meetings as that would increase the Covid risk.

Picking up Rubbish

Rachel introduced the plan to organise an event in Newtown as part of Clean Up NZ week (17-23 September). The Sustainability Advisor at Wellington Hospital has approached us about a joint event the Hospital staff could take part in. Friday 23rd September is suggested as a day that would suit them. 

Rachel is willing to carry on with the organising, further details TBA.

Transport issues

Cycleway Consultation – this has restarted, following the resolution of the court injunction. Proposed changes:

• At the corner of Riddiford Street and Mein Street, to continue the cycleway along the left hand side of the street and remove car parks outside Newtown School so cyclists can go straight ahead. This will need changes to traffic lights and phasing so cyclists and left turning cars don’t collide.
• Cycle speed at the entrance to the hospital car park can be an issue.
• The area where the bus lane ends and three lots of traffic merge needs adjustment.

Submissions are due by 31st August. It’s expected that the Councillors will make a decision on 15^th September, and if approved work will start a couple of weeks after that.

‘Reshaping Streets’ – Waka Kotahi has opened consultation on proposed changes to legislation to make it easier for local authorities (like councils) to make street changes that support public transport, active travel and placemaking. Submissions are due on September 19th. See https://www.nzta.govt.nz/about-us/consultations/reshaping-streets-consultation for more information.

Streets for People Announcement:  on Tuesday 6th September at 10.30am there will be a celebration at Newtown School as the Hon Michael Wood announces the councils (including Wellington) who have been selected for funding for transport changes. 

Wellington Water

There is continuing concern about the fluoridation issues.

There was a discussion about management of the organisation.

• This is a long-standing issue
• Perhaps there is a link between earthquakes and increased water leaks.
• Wellington City Council is trying to improve mapping of pipes, creating a Digital Twin using some ‘Better Off Funding’.  The city is also using this fund to support social housing and other things.

Special Awards

Cr Fleur Fitzsimons noted that Association President Rhona Carson has recieved an Absolutely Positively Wellingtonian award for her work with the Association, Newtown Festival, and other community work.  Rhona was congratulated by the meeting attendees, and responded with thanks.  She noted that six present or past executive members of the Association have received these awards over the years: Martin Hanley (twice!), Anna Kemble Welch, James Coyle, Peter Frater, Rhona, and Tom Law who was also recognised for his many community contributions at the ceremony last week.

Proposed District Plan Consultation

There are accessible presentations about the Plan on the Council Website.

A planner at the library drop-in consultation was asked about limitations to building because of inadequate infrastructure, and said that Newtown will be a high priority for pipe upgrades.

There is one more month to get submissions in. Further opportunities to discuss submissions will be considered.