Thanks for providing feedback about proposed changes to the Kapiti Bus system.
Our aim is to make public transport easier, smarter and better, and we
appreciate your help to make this happen.

We received feedback from 230 people and groups about the proposals. Of these, we found that 60% supported, 35% raised specific concerns, and 5% provided general feedback. We’re now looking at all the submissions in detail, and will be working through the comments provided. Our final report will be on our website http://www.gw.govt.nz/kapiti-bus-review

Rhona Hewitt
Project Manager
[Greater Wellington Regional Council]

Sue Lusk has now forwarded the minutes of the 11 August meeting which run to 3 pages, but here above are more comments from the discussion on the town centre.

As can be seen, they were diverse and conceptual.  Presumably ‘business hub’ means businesses involved in services rather than products.

Adding an extra story for apartments to the buildings (which would make 3 stories in some places, 2 in others) is a dubious thing to do: an enclosed square flanked by three stories can become dark and uninviting (we’re not sure what the reference to Rymans means — the recent Charles Fleming complex does have something of a fortress look to it from the outside, but ‘dark tunnels’?)

Metlink does need a nominal caretaker with keys to ensure the toilets inside the Waikanae station are open longer than just when the ticket agent is there.  The station has security cameras.

And twinning with another similiar town overseas sounds a good idea — something the new Community Board can look at.

We have heard lots of positive comments about Jeremy and he has shown commitment to Waikanae. He is running for the third time for the community board (the first time in the 2013 general election and again in last year’s by-election when he polled second behind Michael Scott’s protégé Jill Lloyd).  His billboard above uses one of Geoffrey Churchman’s photos from February last year and a photo of him and his dog taken by Sue Lusk. He supports the building of a reservoir dam on the river and a new underpass for the railway crossing.

“It takes time and effort to do this, but I love living in Waikanae; my childhood memories are here and now my children are making their memories, which was one of the main reasons I helped to get the Waikanae Show back off the ground, to help my children and yours to have those memories too!

“There are big changes coming for our little town: with the motorway coming our population will increase which means development and that means infrastructure! Will our already strained river handle that ? More bore water will have to be put into the river to compensate for that and that’s not good for the environment.

“I am not against growth, but we need to think about how we can accommodate the growth and keep Waikanae’s and the wider Kapiti Coast’s uniqueness. A vote for me is a vote for you because I live and work among you and I always listen to what the people I talk to have to say. We have the bones of ideas, but it is by talking to people that the meat goes on them as an old friend of mine used to say!”

This article on the DominionPost (stuff.co.nz) website is about a couple of walkers who called police to tell them they were lost in the bush in the Hemi Matenga Memorial Park behind Waikanae at 7.10 pm on Tuesday and did not know how to get out.

They set off on the walk earlier in the afternoon and became lost, police said. A search team began looking for the pair, who were found just after 9.15 pm.

We recommend not setting out on walks without studying the terrain first (Google maps has a topography–or contours–version) and aim to complete it in good daylight.

Your co-editor and Waikanae Ward candidate, Geoffrey Churchman, has been out of action for 5 days after jumping off a low cliff onto what looked like soft ground, but wasn’t, and broke his ankle.  He had to be airlifted by the Westpac Rescue Helicopter to Wellington Hospital for surgery. He extends his thanks to them as well as the paramedics and Wellington Hospital personnel who were all excellent.

Westpac is the major sponsor of the rescue helicopter, but doesn’t meet the whole cost and Air Rescue needs help from the community, too. Website

The world holiday weather website has these average temperature, rainfall and sunshine graphs for Paraparaumu Beach; unfortunately not for Waikanae Beach, but being only 8 km (5 miles) away, they are unlikely to be different 🙂

Looking due west, probably taken from a helicopter above where the railway and road bridges cross the river. Age uncertain.

Waikanae is one of 19 branches in NZ that the trans-Tasman bank has listed as facing closure in the near future.  A decision is to be be made in October, according to the news report.

The bank says, “Currently, more than 85% of service transactions with us take place outside of a branch. In addition, over the last five years, online transactions increased by 61% and in the last year online logins via a mobile device have increased by 33%.”

It says these changes have seen more than 20 Smart ATMs added over the past two years to provide 24/7 services.

However, this overlooks the fact that branches in places with higher than average elderly populations such as Waikanae look after many customers who are not tech-savvy and don’t do internet banking. Of course, they usually don’t have mortgages or business loans either —  so if they don’t generate that lucrative business, the bank probably sees no need to bother with them.

We can’t really say more than while it is the inevitable long term trend, it’s sad.

These — from the candidates for mayor, councillors and community board members — are all viewable here (pdf files).  All candidates were required to submit with their nominations a 150 word statement plus a photo “not more than 6 months old”.  They will be in the official booklet which the council intends to send out in about 4 weeks from now, along with the voting papers.

Of course, you can’t say much in 150 words, which is why many candidates use leaflets to say more; we hope they will be read — after all, the council takes a significant amount from you in rates + water charges each year, and makes decisions that will affect you in one way or another.

Although we don’t know the guy, we like this statement from one district-wide candidate, Ric Austin; his second and third sentences are spot-on: