V2 of Taumarunui Concept Plans

The Taumarunui Ohura Ward Committee (TOWC) held a workshop with urban design specialists Bespoke today (27 April 17) to discuss the refined plans for Taumarunui township revitalisation.

The refined plans incorporate the public feedback to the original concept plans that were unveiled in December last year (2016).

TOWC Chairperson Karen Ngatai said that the level of public interest with the initial concept plans was outstanding and stimulated a wide-ranging public discussion and a lot of feedback.

The initial plans were certainly successful in their objective of starting a conversation around township redevelopment and challenge peoples thinking on what could be possibly be achieved.

At today's workshop, Bespoke took the Ward Committee through all the feedback point-by-point and discussed how that has been incorporated into the refined plans.

This allowed the Ward Committee to talk through that concepts and key features they raised and which of these they thought should be taken forward.

An example of one of the new concepts supported by the Ward Committee was the possibility of moving the i-SITE to the opposite end of the KiwiRail building and providing space for local museum and historic collections.

Ms. Ngatai said that despite the Ward Committee being generally excited about the new refined plans there are still a number of significant issues that Council, the community, Enterprising Taumarunui Inc. (ETI), building owners and other stakeholders need to work through together.

One of the important things we would like people to remember is that township revitalisation is a journey and it is important that they stay engaged with the process as we progress through the up-coming stages.

The Ward Committee along with Council and ETI recognize that people are keen to see action on the ground and things happening as soon as possible.

Council will be working with Bespoke to tie down project priorities and how this will link to design, funding, and delivery of projects.

Bespoke will now take the outcomes of today's workshop discussion and develop a new amended set of plans for the next round of community consultation.

It is anticipated that this new set of refined plans incorporating today's decisions by the Ward Committee will be available for public viewing and comment within a month.

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