20 November 2013

Regional Parks for a Healthy Hawke’s Bay

In a move which sees Hawke’s Bay Regional Council line up with Greater Wellington and Auckland Councils, Councillors have today endorsed the recommendation to recognise HBRC’s popular ‘open spaces’ as Regional Parks.

HBRC has managed open spaces for many years, from river margins, wetlands, soil and water conservation areas to investment properties, country parks and Hawke’s Bay Trails. The best known of these are Pākōwhai and Tūtira Country Parks and Pekapeka Wetland, which was opened to the public in 2010.

The areas HBRC owns have individual management plans, typically reviewed in a five-year cycle. While HBRC has policy that guides investment and acquisition of open spaces, until now there has been no specific administrative policy and no high-level strategy to guide, manage and maintain these spaces.

Stemming from today’s committee recommendation – and once adopted by Council – HBRC will use the Regional Parks Network Plan to apply a consistent framework to all open spaces, in particular the Tūtira, Pākōwhai, Pekapeka and Waitangi sites. The committee endorsed a single Plan for HBRC’s Regional Parks with Individual Park Plans to then be developed addressing the special values and characteristics of each location and its best use. For example, this could see initiatives like more boardwalks at Pekapeka and the introduction of basic facilities at Pākōwhai.

This agenda item got support from HBRC’s Environment and Services Committee Chairman, Councillor Rex Graham who says, “People love Regional Parks. Places like Pekapeka Wetland are real gems for Hawke’s Bay and we would like to see more of these spaces around Hawke’s Bay.”

“This also means one set of policies and plans for Regional Parks, which are one of most visible ways HBRC supports healthy communities. Effectively, we have a contract between the Regional Council and the public explaining how we’ll manage regional parks on their behalf,” adds Cr Graham.

Operations Environmental Manager, Stephen Cave is responsible for HBRC’s Regional Parks and is pleased to see the realisation of the Regional Parks Network Plan, paving the way for each park to realise its potential.

“This approach highlights the unique nature and values of each individual park and addresses the need for specific management,” says Mr Cave.

“Additionally, we expect that visitors to the region will associate ‘Regional Parks’ with a place that they can visit more so than a ‘Council Owned Wetland’ which is currently Pekapeka’s official title,” he adds.

Staff asked that Councillors consider the remaining $800,000 from HBRC’s Community Facilities and Open Spaces Fund for enhancement or expansion of the current open space areas, pending a review during the 2014/2015 financial year. This item will be finally considered by Council at its meeting on 28 November.

ends

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