Initiatives aimed at boosting tourism facilities get funding
Local initiatives aimed at boosting tourism
facilities get community board
funding
Community-based organisations with projects aimed at developing visitor facilities have received a funding boost with the allocation of several grants from most of our district's community boards.
At its meeting on Monday, the Thames Community Board allocated its Local Economic Development (LED) Grant fund to:
· $20,000: Hauraki Prospectors Association Incorporated - To set up a functioning steam engine in time for the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of the Thames Goldfields
· $15,000: Steampunk the Thames - To help set up and implement the long-term plan to create a Steampunked destination i-SITE
· $15,000: Thames Public Art Trust - To establish a Kopu to Thames Sculpture Trail and undertake work on the Underfoot Gallery
Also on Monday, the Whangamata Community Board approved a Community Grant application from the Whangamata Multi Sport Club for a $1,357 financial contribution towards the cost of improving signage in the Tairua Forest, where the Whangamata Mountain Bike Park is located.
On Tuesday, the Coromandel-Colville Community Board allocated its LED Grant fund to:
· $3,000: Coromandel Independent Living Trust - Maintenance and improvements to the Harray Track
· $1,117.50: Colville Social Service Collective - Coromandel and Beyond promotional project
· $4,019: Colville Community Health Trust - To produce a targeted marketing strategy
· $7,531.50: Colville Social Service Collective - To produce promotional material for the walkways and cycleways in the northern Coromandel Peninsula
Also on Tuesday, the Tairua-Pauanui Community Board agreed to a retrospective grant of $3,000 from its 2016/17 discretionary fund to the Hikuai District Trust towards the cost of a property boundary survey on a portion of land for Stage 3 of the proposed Pauanui-Tairua Trail.
To read more about the specific projects, see the applications for funding included in the agenda papers for the community board meetings of 22 and 23 May, available through our website: www.tcdc.govt.nz/communityboardagendas
The Thames and Coromandel-Colville Community Boards' LED Grants are available to support initiatives aimed at developing tourism infrastructure and visitor attractions in those board areas.
The funds were initially created in the 2015-25 Long Term Plan for a three-year period to allow the two community boards to make additional investment into economic development through the contestable grants.
They are allocated on an annual basis and the next funding round opens after 1 July 2017.
For more information on the grants and the policies and criteria that govern them, see www.tcdc.govt.nz/ledgrants.