See the draft minutes of the meeting here.

The NRA meeting in September was the Association’s AGM, but in the event only part of the AGM business was concluded, and the AGM was adjourned, to recommence at the October meeting.  Unfortunately the Association accounts had not been received from the auditor and so could not be presented.

Claire Pettigrew presented her Presidents’ Report, and was thanked for all her efforts and achievements during the year.

Election of Officers:

President – there were no nominations. Claire has decided not to stand again as she has more demands on her time now with a full-time job. [27/10//15 – Update -at the second part of the AGM at the October meeting Rhona Carson was nominated for President and accepted the role.]

Secretary – Rhona Carson

Treasurer – Peter Frater, in absentia, subject to his agreement

Vice-President – James Coyle (no nominees for the other 2 possible VP roles)

Past President – Claire Pettigrew

Executive – Carol Comber, Kevin Lethbridge, Steve Dunn, Cheryl Robilliard, Jeanie McCafferty, Steve Cosgrove, Effie Rankin, Martin Hanley.

Steve Cosgrove moved, Rhona Carson seconded, that the people nominated be declared elected unopposed. Carried.

Newtown Festival Appointments

Festival Director: Martin Hanley

Festival Committee: Anna Kemble Welch, James Coyle, Tom Law, Rhona Carson

Festival Review Team: Steve Dunn, Peter Frater (if he continues as Treasurer), Claire Pettigrew – with power to co-opt. Ken Allen said he could be willing to be co-opted.

The AGM was adjourned before the Festival business was concluded; to be continued in October.

Other Business – included a discussion about “Safety on our Streets” prompted by concerns about about men begging for money and hanging around the ATMs intimidating people. Jono Sharp from the Police responded to this, saying that the Police are doing what they can, and advising people to speak to the Police if they are having trouble.

See the meeting minutes for more details of the above topics.

Agenda: 
Confirming Minutes of 2014 AGM See here for the Minutes 
Matters arising
President’s Report
Treasurer’s Report – Presentation of Annual Accounts
Election of Officers (President,Treasurer, Secretary, up to 3 Vice-Presidents and up to 9 Executive Members – see last year’s minutes for the current office holders.)
Newtown Festival Director’s Report
Appointment of Festival Director, Festival Committee and Festival Review Team.
Other Business.

Brief Notes from the NRA Meeting on August 17th
You can see the full minutes by following this link.

The state of Newtown Streets
Residents are unhappy about the state of our streets and think that the contractors could do a better job.  A recent audit of the amount of rubbish and disrepair listed many problems.  The Association Secretary agreed to write a letter to the WCC about the concerns.

The Newtown Festival has been nominated for a Wellington Airport Regional Community Award (Heritage and Environment Category) in recognition of the work James Coyle and the rest of the recycling steering group and the volunteers put into recycling at the Street Fair this year.  The hope is to inspire other events to increase recycling efforts.  This could include permanent recycling stations on our streets.

Celebrate Newtown: this aspect of the Newtown Festival will run through February to late March 2016. The Festival Committee are inviting people to think of events to run during this time, that can be added to the programme.  If you have proposals, please contact us.

Newtown Residents’ Association Monthly Meeting: 

Monday, 17th August 2015, 7.30pm at the Newtown Hall, 71 Daniell St.  All welcome! 

Subscriptions are due now – so if you want to be a financial member, with a vote at the AGM on Monday 21st September, please bring a gold coin to the meeting.

We would like to hear about any issues you think should be discussed at the meeting – please contact us.

The next Residents’ Association Meeting is on Monday 20th July 2015, 7.30pm at the Newtown Hall, 71 Daniell St.  Please contact us about any issues you would like on the agenda.

Do come and join in the discussion – all welcome!

The Newtown Residents’ Association met on June 15th 2015.

See the June Minutes for a full report on the meeting. These were two of the main topics:

Housing Development

Work has begun on clearing the way for a new Special Housing Development on the site of the empty warehouses between Princess, Horner and Mansfield Streets.  Two residents from Princess Terrace told of being woken at 2am on Wednesday 10 June by a large truck manoeuvring to deliver a raised show home to an empty site.  This link to a Trademe advertisement gives an impression of the houses planned – 34 units, 3 storey with 2-3 bedrooms.

Concerns brought to the meeting were: Princess Tce is the single access road and is inadequate for the expected volumes of traffic; two businesses in the area, a glass storage business and Triptych a conservation business that restores small delicate items, are likely to be impacted by the vibrations and dust during demolition and construction; two of the roofs contain asbestos; earthworks on the bank may impact on the safety and stability of surrounding houses; and there is a risk of channelled water adding to the city’s flooding.

Residents would like to open up a communication channel with the developers.

The meeting agreed that NRA would write to the WCC to support these points.

Ryman’s Tip-top Site

This Hanson St site has been sold to Ryman Healthcare for a boutique retirement village. In the meantime it is still being vandalised with graffiti, which WCC has been cleaning off. Cr Eagle said there has been no real engagement between WCC and Ryman to date.

NRA will write to Ryman asking for more information about their plans.