Investment to help make Levin innovative lifestyle centre
Media Release: Tuesday 16 August 2016
Investment to help transform Levin into
innovative lifestyle centre
The potential for Levin to transform into a lifestyle centre specialising in living innovations for New Zealand’s older population has received a significant funding boost.
The Government has announced it will contribute $250,000 to help Levin and the wider District pioneer these developments, as part of the Manawatū-Whanganui Economic Action Plan launched on Friday.
In 2015, the Government’s Regional Growth Study
highlighted emerging opportunities in fields such as
tourism, aged care and business outsourcing, as well as
scope to build on the region’s existing strengths in the
primary sector.
As a result, the Manawatū-Whanganui
Economic Action Plan has been developed by business leaders,
iwi, hapu, and councils in partnership with central
government. The Action Plan identifies tangible
opportunities and strategies across all sectors that will
enable the acceleration of social and economic growth in the
region by 2025.
The $250,000 Government investment will go towards a multi-faceted pilot project to address the growing aged population, including to:
• Rethink how services
are delivered and made more accessible for older people in
communities
• Address the cost of living for older
people
• Improve the quality of life for older
people
• Transform Levin and Horowhenua into an
inclusive lifestyle centre specialising in innovation for
living
Horowhenua District Mayor Brendan Duffy says this
is a great opportunity for Levin and Horowhenua to be the
pilot location from which to prototype the concept and roll
it out across other parts of the region and wider.
“The
priority has been to develop a 10-year master plan for the
region. That master plan will explore Levin and Horowhenua
being a suitable location to invest and test new
technologies, spatial planning, skills and facilities,” he
said.
“This works very well with our aspiration to move
Levin gradually from being largely a rural service centre to
a lifestyle centre. This type of future is a real
possibility for our area and we should embrace
it.”
Mayor Duffy says one example is increasing digital
connection and creating smart homes with connectivity to
medical and aged-care support.
He says this will help
older people stay living in their homes for longer, and
therefore integrated and continuing to contribute to their
communities - inter-generational communities.
“The $250,000 investment is actually a significant measure that the Government is serious about supporting these kinds of initiatives, to help us be proactive not reactive,” he said.
“And, Horowhenua is well-suited, being not too small and not too large, to make this work. But it’s not just about us looking after older people in our district or region; it’s about us being amazingly innovative and finding solutions that we can market nationwide and ultimately out into the world. This is not dream-land, it’s potentially what we could actually achieve.”
More
information on the Manawatū-Whanganui Economic Action Plan
is available on the Accelerate25 website: www.accelerate25.co.nz
ENDS