Flaxmere Village Centre Plan Comes Together

Stage One of the much anticipated Flaxmere Village Centre renewal has taken a large step forward towards a better future for the suburb.

After a number of years of extensive consultation with Flaxmere residents, Hastings District Council has approved a master plan – stage one of which is to establish a large supermarket and a connecting road through the centre of the village.

Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule says Flaxmere people acknowledge their community has a number of challenges but they have been passionate about developing the future of their village – more than 1000 people turned up to the “Passport to Flaxmere’s Future” consultation day last year.

“We’ve all seen the strong community spirit of Flaxmere and that’s building by the day. We want to support that momentum and work with the community to develop a village centre that meets their economic and social needs.

“The community wants something better than what they currently have as a village centre and the renewal plan aims to create a vibrant village and a quality civic heart for the people of Flaxmere,” Mayor Yule says.
“For Flaxmere to prosper it needs to have a commercially sustainable town centre which provides more jobs for its people and attract more people from outside the suburb to invest.

The master plan outlines the long-term vision for the village centre and includes the new supermarket, new roads which link commercial and community facilities such as the library and Waterworld, attractive public spaces and provides flexibility for future development.

This master plan has been reviewed by the Directors of Hastings District Properties Limited, the company responsible for delivering the project on behalf of the Council, to ensure it not only achieves social goals but is attractive to the commercial market.
Flaxmere Planning Committee chair Kayren Hatherell says she can’t wait to see the proposed changes happen on the ground.

“This is so exciting for Flaxmere. It’s our turn to see positive change in our village centre and the plan opens the community up to some great new opportunities,” Mrs Hatherell says.

The next stage is the public notification of a district plan change in the next few months which will enable the master plan to be implemented.