Hastings is not only officially New Zealand’s Most Beautiful Large Town - it is also the Keep New Zealand Beautiful Awards Supreme Winner 2020.

“This is absolutely fantastic; these awards recognise the amazing efforts of all of our people, from our volunteers, staff and contractors, to our councillors and everyone in all of our communities,” said Hastings mayor Sandra Hazlehurst.

“I’m so excited and very proud of our district – not only do we know we are beautiful; but so does the whole of New Zealand!”

The awards, which are focused on sustainable practices and environmental excellence that keep urban spaces beautiful, were announced on Thursday night [Oct 29].

Thirteen category winners were announced after which Hastings was named the Supreme Winner.

The awards ceremony was to have been held in Auckland, however, because of the COVID situation at the time of planning, the ceremony was moved online.

Mrs Hazlehurst was at the Flaxmere Night Market and watched the awards during the event. “It has been a fantastic day – Flaxmere’s first night market with amazing entertainment and a fabulous family atmosphere, and now this!”

Receiving the Supreme Award on top of the Most Beautiful Large Town Award was a real honour, she said “we are blessed to have beautiful natural spaces and an outstanding climate but we also know that it takes a great deal of effort by our community and our Council to keep it that way.

“There are so many people I wish to thank”:

• our community, which has embraced our critically important new recycling and rubbish systems aimed at being as sustainable as we can;
• our hundreds of volunteers who help plant out our parks and reserves;
• our partner organisations, such as Nourished for Nil and Environment Centre Hawke's Bay, which work so hard to help us keep material out of the landfill;
• our Council team members who are constantly working on projects that see our beautiful spaces come alive - making them beautiful and interesting for our people;
• our councillors who understand and fully support the planning and funding of projects that ensure we are as beautiful as we can be.

“Also, a special thank you to Keep New Zealand Beautiful for giving us all the opportunity to celebrate our wonderful spaces. We will make sure our whole community can take part in celebrating this amazing achievement.”

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