Praise for beach open day

MANAWATU District Mayor Margaret Kouvelis was “overwhelmed” at the response to a public open day on the Himatangi Beach Community Sewerage Scheme in the village on Saturday.

“I stepped into the hall expecting to see two or three people and more council representatives than locals,” she said, “but the place was humming.”

Manawatu District councillors and staff were on hand at the Community Centre from noon to 4pm to provide detailed information and answer questions on the scheme. About 150 people are estimated to have attended throughout the afternoon.

Mrs Kouvelis was delighted with the interest shown by property owners and the intelligence of questions that kept council staff “flat out” in reply.

She said it was important to communicate with owners who did not live at Himatangi Beach to inform them of when an assessment of their property was planned and give them the opportunity to be present.      

“Another thing I picked up on was that many people were impressed by the options around payment. There are a number of people who want to pay up front and others who are really struggling with their commitment to pay, so like the option of the 20-year repayment period.”

Mrs Kouvelis said the information that was on display - such as maps, plans, diagrams, information booklet, list of frequently asked questions and the pumps to be used – added to the presentation.

“There is some urgency about getting the scheme underway,” she said. “Two years have gone and there has been a lot of momentum and a good focus group. Now, people can see that it’s really going to happen.”

Councillor John Salmon said it appeared that support for the scheme was growing and was probably the result of people understanding it a lot more.

“They certainly seemed to be more inquisitive and wanting to know about the project,” he said.

Jim Doherty, of Lower Hutt, who has owned a Himatangi Beach property for 37 years, said the decision to hold such an informative open day was “tremendous”.

Though he knew something about sewerage schemes from his past working life, he said “we’re still getting to grips with it and we have all got questions”.

He said that what some people did not realise was that there was a preponderance of older owners at the beach who did not have a lot of money to rub together.

“Some of them are finding this quite difficult and in understanding what’s going on.”

Mr Doherty said the amount of information available at the open day was more than he expected and described that approach as “good work”.