The recent community board meeting heard from the town’s emergency and essential services about their plans for the busy summer holiday period.
Xtreme Zero Waste Over summer, the team at Xtreme Zero Waste will be emptying public street bins in the urban area twice a day, and will be supported by the bigger rubbish truck, so they can remove more rubbish, more quickly.
Police Extra police from Hamilton coming out to give our local officers a hand in Whaingaroa over the Christmas and New Year period – as has happened in recent years.
Surf lifesaving Paid lifeguards have already started patrolling Ngarunui Beach, and will remain for the summer.
Freedom camping The council will have its compliance team working in town during weekends over the summer, enforcing its parking and freedom camping bylaws, although they won’t be working on the statutory holiday days.
The council is also currently recruiting two freedom camping ambassadors, who will be highly visible in and about Raglan until late January to early February. The ambassadors don’t have compliance powers, but will be engaging and educating freedom campers about what the bylaw says.
The council passed a new freedom camping bylaw a month ago and Lisa says there are “a few extra places added around Raglan that people can’t freedom camp anymore.
“The CBD is out for any freedom camping, as are Cliff Street, the wharf, Stewart Street, any public reserve, Papahua, Manu Bay, Earls Place, Whale Bay, Waireinga Bridal Veil Falls. In all of those places, you are not allowed to camp. Also, the end of John Street next to the dog exercise area has been added as a no freedom camping zone, which is great for local residents who have had concerns about campers in this area in the past.” (Listen to the full interview below:) Applications for funding at community board meeting Grants were awarded to Surfside Church for its Christmas at Wi Neera event which took place on Sunday 10 December 2023, as well as for two initiatives by the Raglan Old School Arts Centre for a pop-up book festival, and for the 2024 Raglan Film Festival The board also contracted local artist Dallas Mihinui to redo the mural at Papahua on the end of the changing shed next to the basketball hoop. The existing mural in this site had been extensively tagged recently, but Lisa says that as it was first done in 2012, it needed a little love anyhow.
CCTV in the town centre The program to install CCTV cameras in the Raglan area is going ahead. Stakeholders have suggested seven potential locations for the cameras including at Te Uku to enable camera recognition of number plates.
The council is also in discussion with Hamilton City Council about making use of its state-of-the-art CCTV monitoring centre, and the technology it uses to manage the cameras and alert police to suspicious activity.
Lisa confirmed that there will be rigorous measures in place to safeguard the confidentiality of and access to the footage.
Playground at Greenslade Road Progress is also being made on the project to build a playground on Greenslade Road, with two options presented to residents.
Soundsplash Event organisers will be at Wainui Reserve for 20 days from around 8 January. The airfield is also used for 9 days for parking and registration, and this year there will be a 4000 litre water tank and welfare centre on site at the airfield for people waiting to be transported to the festival venue.
Another new initiative is buses running from Auckland and Hamilton directly to the venue. The buses are anticipated to carry around 4000 festival goers and will significantly reduce traffic in town, disruption for the community, and wait times for attendees.
Community response planning. Lisa says a productive community emergency response planning meeting was held with local stakeholders, and that contact details for key organisations and local marae have been gathered as planned.
Raglan Naturally has sourced 20 Ministry of Social Development civil defence packs for distribution to key organisations and marae.
Wharf improvement project Improvements at the wharf will be usable by Christmas, with the wharf turning loop expected to be up and running. A 2.5-metre-wide concrete footpath running along the wharf end of Wallis Street is currently being constructed.
Some of the wharf terraces will not be open over the summer, as the concrete requires specialised treatment to improve its slip-resistance, and will remain fenced off. Contractors will be back on site from Monday the 12 February 2024 to complete the finishing touches, including cultural and historical sign boards, and an entrance sculpture by local sculptor Simon Te Wheoro.
Wi Neera walkway Work to strengthen the sea wall on the Wi Neera walkway between the footbridge and jetty is now complete, with 10 cubic metres of grout added to the existing wall to stabilise it.
The remaining work, including upgrading the footpath and adding a handrail will be completed in mid to late February, when most of the summer visitors are gone.
Work at the other end of the path is still uncertain, as it is a far more complex and expensive job.
Wastewater upgrades and future options A hui at Poihakena Marae on Sunday 3 December provided an opportunity for council staff to update stakeholders on what’s happening around plans for land-based discharge of treated wastewater. The council has now entered into a memorandum of understanding with a landowner at Maungatawhiri Road, which is a potential site for the discharge.
Council staff were also able to confirm that the contract to upgrade the existing wastewater treatment plant has now been awarded, to the same contractors who upgraded the Meremere Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The link for the meeting is available on the council’s website. Upcoming rates increases Lisa says that the future of three waters funding is uncertain now there has been a change of government, but councils are already collectively making recommendations to central government about what support they need to remain sustainable, including funding.
“The rating system is broken and most councils are now looking at double digits for rates increases. The Raglan Community Board has asked the council not to go into double digits (10% or above) for rates increases in the Waikato district, and the council will be considering what the increases are likely to be in early 2024. Capital values for houses are due to be reassessed early next year too, and these determine quite a large portion of the general rates, so there will be a lot going on for ratepayers in the New Year,” Lisa says.
Vandalism to the airfield fence Lisa says that official-looking council signs and road cones indicating a path across the airfield that were installed recently at the Raglan Airfield were not put there by the council and pose a health and safety risk to users.
Vandalism of the airfield fence had stopped at the end of 2022 but restarted in September this year and since then the fence has been repaired five times at “significant cost to ratepayers”.
Lisa says that the vandalism is particularly disappointing at this busy time of the year.
“There will be more people coming into Raglan and there will probably be more planes coming into Raglan, so that mixed messaging to our visitors and the community puts everyone in danger.
Lisa says that the process to return the land is continuing, and that in the meantime the safety mechanisms that have been put in place at the airfield are supported by the representatives of the owners who have delegated authority to work with the council on this matter.
Getting in contact with the council over Christmas Lisa says that the first community board meeting of the new year will be held in February 2024. Over the holiday period, anyone experiencing any problems or needing to report something, should go online to the council website and put in a service request through that portal.
While there will be a skeleton staff operating at council over the summer, the local council offices will be closed at times – with the opening hours available on the council’s website. https://raglanradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IMG20231211151848.jpg