Health centre receives financial reprive from Council

Turangi’s new community health facility has received a helping hand from Taupo District Council.



Councillors agreed today to grant the Southern Lake Taupo Health Trust Community Health Centre a remission of the fee normally charged for new developments.



A policy adopted by the Council in 2004 requires developers to provide contributions in money or land to fund the additional demand on services such as roads, water supply, wastewater, parks and stormwater management.



The fee payable by Southern Lake Taupo Health Trust amounted to almost $76,000 (excluding GST) but has been waived on the basis that the health centre is a not-for-profit organisation which provides a number of benefits to support and serve the local community.



The eight healthcare providers which will be based in the new health centre already operate within the Turangi area so it is anticipated no additional traffic or usage is going to be generated by the new facility.



Councillor Don Ormsby who is also the Chairman of the Turangi-Tongariro Community Board says he whole-heartedly supports the Council’s decision.



“This is a community initiative in every sense. It’s being run by the community for the community. The health centre will be more convenient for locals as well as tourists and is important part of the ongoing development of Turangi,” says Cr Ormsby.



Chairman of the Southern Lake Taupo Charitable Trust, Lawrie Croxson, said the Council’s decision was a wonderful affirmation of the Trust’s work. “We have been working on this for more than three years but has been on the books in Turangi for more than 15 years. One of the reasons it has been successful is because it has community buy-in,” says Mr Croxson.