The key issues for the Long-term Plan for the next 10 years are described in the consultation documents as being how much to spend on the three waters network to fix the pipes, how to manage waste collection and recycling, and whether or not to sell the WCC Airport shares to set up a ‘resilience fund’. Other proposed changes include a proposal to introduce parking fees in suburban centres, including Newtown and Berhampore.
We agree that these are all very important issues, but we know that there are a range of different views among our members about how they should be dealt with. Because of this we didn’t take a position on any of these issues in our submission.
Our submission covers local issues that might otherwise be overlooked. These are the topics –
Redevelopment of the former Bowling Club at 177 Owen Street
Toilets for Carrara Park
Proposing a future project – more parks and playspaces
A request to extend the Pōneke Promise programme, or something similar, into our local area
More funding for the arts and cultural sectors
A request to upgrade the Newtown suburban town centre
The meeting was at the St Tom’s Community Lounge on Monday April 15th 2024. Alex Hockley, CEO of the Wellington Heritage Festival talked about potential Newtown events, and Deputy Mayor Laurie Foon outlined issues in the WCC long Term Plan. Submissions are due on 12th May.
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.
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.
This proposed plan is based on the WCC Parking Policy which was agreed in 2020. Our Association supports the principle of residents having priority for parking on the residential streets. However we have concerns about the details of the proposal that was presented for consultation, and we are disappointed that the Parking Policy agreement for Area Based Planning wasn’t put into practice.
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.
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.
If you have ever been to Carrara Park and wished that there was a toilet there, or if you have avoided going because there are no toilets, please sign it! The end date is set for 2 weeks from today, which is 5 September, but we are hoping for a lot of signatures by the time of the oral submissions to Council on 31st August.
It would also be helpful if you could write a note of support and send it to newtownwellington@gmail.com before our President, Rhona Carson, presents the oral submission on Thursday 31st August.
Our Association has made a submission to Wellington City Council on Te Awe Māpara – The draft Community Facilities Plan, asking again for toilets in the Park.
Back in 2020 James Barber wrote a Scoop article about the lack of toilets in Carrara Park – https://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=132403 – well worth reading! Nothing has changed since then.
We are hoping that this time we will be able to make such a strong case that the Council will finally approve it. If you agree with the cause you can help. One of the factors in assessing priorities for facilities is ‘Community advocacy • The community expresses an aspiration for a change to community facility provision to meet needs’ (p 49 of the draft plan). We’re hoping to generate a level of community advocacy that can’t be ignored!
We are launching an online petition, and will add a link when it is approved. If you have ever been to Carrara Park and wished that there was a toilet there please sign it! It would also be helpful if you could write a note of support and send it to newtownwellington@gmail.com before our President, Rhona Carson, presents an oral submission on Thursday 31st August.
Our Anniversary on Saturday 29th July was a very enjoyable event, held in Newtown School Hall. During the day we set up display boards with photos and other information about the Association and it’s activities – including Newtown Festival – and also contributions from other Newtown organisations and other Residents’ Associations elsewhere in Wellington. There were displays of the history of Newtown Library and Newtown Community Centre, information tables for the Wellington South Community Patrol, Predator Free Wellington and Predator Free Mt Cook Newtown, and photos, posters and pamphlets from many other groups and organisations including Seeds to Feeds, Renters United, the Zoo, EkeRua ReBicycle, St Tom’s Church, and WREMO. It was a good opportunity to remind people that Newtown School Hall is the emergency hub for Newtown.
There was a slide show of Association activities – you can see the slides here, although its not quite the same without the special effects created by Committee member Michelle Wolland. We also had a screen showing Newtown Festival videos – many thanks to Rowena Tun the Timebank coordinator for both supplying the screen and setting up the videos.
The highlight of the occasion was the afternoon tea starting at 2.30pm. A crew of Association members organised this. Sandwiches, slices and savouries came from the Friendly Bakery in Riddiford St, and we highly recommend them if you are planning something similar! And a ‘thank you’ to Lynda McGregor, who donated a tray of the legendary cinnamon rolls from her market stall, The Little Bread Loaf. The centrepiece was a splendid cake made by committee member Carol Comber, who had cleverly created a cake which divided into sections with different flavours and characteristics, including vegan and gluten free.
Kaumātua Peter Jackson was the first speaker and following a karakia he gave a brief outline of how the Te Āti Awa and Taranaki iwi came to be in Wellington, and talked of how the area we know as Newtown was basically a swamp. There is no record of it having its own name in pre-colonial times. Kaumātua Peter also told the story of how his father (Sam Jackson) gave Wellington Hospital the name Ngā Puna Waiora because of the streams that ran through the site. This is echoed in the name Te Kura Ngā Puna Waiora (Newtown School) and now also the reopened Newtown Community Centre, Te Whare Hapori o Ngā Puna Waiora.
The president Rhona Carson then spoke briefly, welcoming attendees and introducing the next speakers.
Deputy Mayor Laurie Foon and Councillor Nurredin Abdurahman, our Southern Ward representatives, both spoke and talked about the importance of community, and doing things together. Cr Nureddin had recently returned from visiting Ethiopia and reflected on the advantages we enjoy in our community.
Martin Hanley and Anna Kemble Welch joined Newtown Residents’ Association soon after moving here in the early 1980s. Martin spoke about how he, Anna, Peter Frater and Chris Renwick (now deceased) responded to a WCC invitation to organise Carrara Park carnival in 1995 and then the Newtown Festival Street Fair in 1997. Newtown Festival was run by the NRA for twenty years then separated into the Newtown Festival Trust in 2017, but it is still run by the same people.
The final speaker was Hilary Watson, who was a member of the Association in the 1970s and 1980s and rejoined a few years ago. She spoke of memories of Owen O’Connor, the Association President when the name was changed to Residents’ Association, who was a great champion for Newtown and died much too young.
Hilary then joined Carol Comber in cutting the cake, concluding the formalities.
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.
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.
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).
The Newtown Residents’ Association was incorporated on 29th July 1963, and we will be marking the occasion on Saturday 29th July with an ‘open day’ at Newtown School Hall. There will be displays about Newtown history and community activities from 10am, followed by afternoon tea from 2.30-4.30pm.
We hope that you will pop in if you are at Newtown Market that Saturday, and that you will join us for afternoon tea. If you can let us know if you can come for afternoon tea and how many people will be attending that will help with planning our catering, could you please RSVP using this form.
We are also interested in gathering more information and photos that can be added to the displays we are creating. This could be about the Association, or about other aspects of Newtown history or community activities. The form asks if you have anything you can contribute, or you could email us on newtownwellington@gmail.com to discuss it further. If you have memories of the Association to share we would really like to hear them!
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.
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.
Have you seen people in hi-viz vests collecting data along Luxford St, Adelaide Rd, or The Parade overnight during the past week? They are from Reveal, and they are using 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 WCC plans and designs projects for our city.
This work will continue for one or two more weeks, and will include Rintoul St and Reef St. The details below come from Wellington City Council.
6th June 2023- UPDATE – The end date for the Utility Survey Investigation work scheduled through Newtown and Island Bay has been extended due to illness in the Traffic Management Supervisor team.
These works resumed Monday 5 June along Rintoul St, and will continue along Luxford St, down Adelaide Rd, into The Parade, and then out to Island Bay, including Reef St. The entirety of the works are due to finish by the end of June.
Other important details of these works remain the same.
Survey Areas and Carparks required- See attached image for map
Day
Planned Dates
Shift
Approximate Area
Carparks required (21/23 in total)
1
21 May, Sun night
Full
562A – 2A The Parade
1 – outside Community Orchard
2
22 May, Mon night
Full
486B – 562A Adelaide Rd
2 – outside 545 & 559 Adelaide
3
23 May, Tues night
Full
All Luxford St & Intersection with Adelaide Rd
2/3 – outside 28 to 30 Luxford2/3 – outside 208 to 210 RintoulBoth areas are required for temporary bus stops
4
24 May, Wed night
Full
2A – 20 The Parade/Dee St Intersection
Nil
5
25 May, Thurs night
Full
24 – 66 The Parade/Tamar St Intersection
Nil
6
28 May, Sun night
PMAM
348 – 336 The Parade/Reef St Intersection1 – 50 Rintoul St
5 – outside 1,7,14,16 & 21 Rintoul St
7
29 May, Mon night
PMAM
274 – 346 The Parade50 – 112 Rintoul St
1 – outside 274 The Parade1 – outside 98 Rintoul
8
30 May, Tues night
PMAM
Balance of 274 – 346 The Parade112 – 192 Rintoul St
3 – 2 outside 112 and 1 outside 132 Rintoul
9
31 May, Wed night
PMAM
216 – 272 The Parade192 – 1/218 Rintoul
Nil2 – outside 179 and 201 Rintoul
10
1 June, Thurs night
Full
148 – 214 The Parade/Mersey St Intersection
1 – outside 163A The Parade
11
5 June, Mon night
Full
68 – 148 The Parade
1 – outside 132 The Parade
12
6 June, Tues night
PMAM
Reef St, Island Bay460 – 486B Adelaide Rd
Nil
NB: Specific notifications/coning will take place 24hrs prior to an actual carpark being requiredShift; Full = prior to and after midnight, PM = before midnight, AM = after midnight
Dates have changed – see UPDATE above
All works will take place during the night, between 7:30 PM and 5:00 AM and Stop/Go procedures will be in place.
To ensure the surveying can be completed as efficiently as possible, roadside parking will not be available in 23 car parks where manholes exist and/or Metlink require temporary bus stops to be setup.
These will be marked with “No parking” cones on the day which will be removed as soon as the investigation works are complete.
Please note – any vehicles obstructing work areas or traffic may be towed to a nearby suitable area. If your vehicle is not where you parked it, please call the WCC Contact Centre at 04 499 4444.
We appreciate this investigation work may be disruptive for residents and/or businesses. We will be doing all we can to minimise the impact on your household and/or business.
Thank you for your cooperation and patience, it is much appreciated and will help us get the job done as quickly as possible.
For more information about the project- Contact the contractors at Reveal
newtown.org.nz 