Waikanae is a town of approximately 14,000 people located about 55 km north of Wellington. It is bordered in the west by the coast on the Tasman Sea, in the east by the foothills of the Tararua Range and to the south by the Waikanae River. There is no specific identifiable natural northern border, although most housing ceases about 3 km north of the river.
There are about 5,000 houses which are the principal dwellings for their occupiers and about another 500 which are secondary dwellings.
The name means “waters of the yellow eyed mullet”.
This e-zine was begun at the time Geoffrey Churchman stood for the council by-election in the Waikanae Ward in January 2015 to express policy stances and has been continued by him, Eva Churchman and others as a forum for news, views and ideas about things which have a relevance in some way to Waikanae people.
Articles are welcome as are comments on them; we do not not censor content, except for abuse, insults or sniping antagonism directed at our editors, other commentators or contributors and disguised ads — which won’t make it. No negative comments about people simply because of their skin colour, ethnic origin or national origin either. The sources of communications intended to be vexacious are investigated (don’t think you are anonymous, you can be traced easily) and reported to appropriate authorities.
While we can sympathise with reasons for proposed civil disobedience, we can’t endorse anything illegal.
I received a flyer seeking support for G. Churchman when, while I live in Waikanae I am not in the Waikanae ward. I only support such people if they are very strongly in favour of the underpass linking Elizabeth Street extension and Te Moana Road that would also access the current State Highway One. This has shown to be already most necessary. There will be no relief when the Expressway is finished and will get much worse when the 15minute train service as planned eventuates. Generations in the future will not appreciate a lack of the most necessary infrastructure much easier put in place now than in the future. The underpass, as an alternative to the railway crossing built over 100 years ago, has been a critical issue for close to 30 years already.
Many would question your assertion that “there will be no relief when the Expressway is finished”, however, it is always desirable to eliminate level crossings. Do you have a URL link to a specific design proposal?
Underpasses are notoriously unpleasant places for people. If we designed the future of Waikanae for local people who will be walking, cycling, using scooters and mobility vehicles as well as public transport then our town could be so much nicer. we would be delivering a better place for more of the population. this is a win win for the community and for elected officials.
Hmmm….an overpass would be better frankly than an underpass….i the meantime the problem is getting worse not better – we all have to negotiate the hordes of people coming off the trains at rush hour – the highway outside New World and the intersection outside the petrol station is so dangerous in the evening rush hour when the train empties out – I avoid it completely – people jaywalking across the highway and stepping out in front of traffic all the time – its an impossible situation – someone will get hit and killed and then the authorities will do something. In the meantime the old Waikane Hotel has been demolished and the car park held up by the Marae….the authorities should have foreseen that happening. I don’t believe train users will park there anyway once its completed – train users are not using it now and there are plenty of spaces already
An underpass/tunnel is always preferable from the visual consideration than an overpass/bridge — people don’t like having their view of hills, trees etc obstructed with concrete.
When the station was built, everyone thought the footbridge at Paraparaumu would be moved to Waikanae, but it diappeared. It seems in the minds of the bureaucrats the Expressway will mostly solve that problem too.
As has been commented on here before, Waikanae is unique in the four Kapiti townships in that there is no alternative to the level crossing for those who live on the other side of it, which is why the level crossing needs to be eliminated.
The crucial matter is that a second egress from east of the railway line is an absolute necessity, be it an underpass (surely the preference), an over-bridge, or an alternative road and crossing accessed from the north end of Huia Street, where I believe there is a “paper” road alternative.
About 18 months ago I was held up at the Elizabeth Street rail crossing for over an hour by a goods train which had to stop because of a signals failure. The train’s length blocked the Elizabeth Street road crossing and pedestrian crossing, the emergency access to the south, through Goodman’s property, and the northern pedestrian rail crossing. In short, people on the east of the rail track were completely isolated, and unreachable by emergency services should they have been needed.
This is a completely untenable situation. The eastern side of the railway line houses a school, at least three pre-schools, a retirement complex and hospital, and any number of families with young children and older people with health issues.Emergency services must have access to this side of the town at all times.
From a safety perspective, it is utter madness that there is no alternative access or egress to or from the eastern side of the main road in emergencies, and it needs to be be a matter of urgency to provide an underpass, overbridge or alternative road.
Damage to mailboxes and other street facing property on Kaka and Kotare Streets.
We had a drive past today but didn’t notice anything obvious. Regardless, are recommending to the Waikanae Community Patrol that they include these streets on their schedule.
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Thank you for sharing the story about Goodman’s Contracting
It is sending out a positive message of light through all the murk and deceit.