Land Review results on the Western Hills agenda
By Jamie Melbourne-Hayward
The Hutt City?s ongoing land review has seen some positive outcomes in the Western Hill, but locals are still working through the detail. Normandale Residents Association president Peter Matcham says they are set to discuss issues surrounding the Poto Road land at their next meeting. ?There has been a lot of community involvement in this. ?The Poto site is at various stages of regeneration and there are many mature trees,? says Mr Matcham. The site has three elements; the road side, a strip marked as reserved for roading, and an area that used to be school land and is now controlled by DOC. The area next to the road is freehold and could be sold to developers, but Mr Matcham wants a deal worked out so the land remains accessible to the public. ?Basically the whole land review has been handled very well by the Council,? he says. The association has been successful in retaining as reserves most land that came up for review, except for the Poto Road site. The association doesn?t want houses blocking access to the regenerating area and ?would like to create a continuous reserve?. ?DOC could sell some of their land at the back for development, so we keep a strip of land that can be retained for public space,? he says. They are currently in discussion with DOC and the Council over the matter. The Maungaraki Community Association is also working through issues that arose from the land review. Developing the Miromiro Road lookout is top of the agenda, after they were able to ?hang on to? the space in the land review. Maungaraki Community association secretary Mr Pryor says the land essentially has enough space for two houses. ?It has been a bit of a bone of contention, because the land is not really suited for development as its slip prone. ?It would have been easier if they just classified it as a reserve,? he says. Funding for a lookout platform will hopefully go through the Central and Western Board committee, and Mr Pryor says they will try and deal directly with the Council as well. The association is also looking toward their next fundraiser event for the community hall. The local school uses the centre as their hall and this year the association wants to raise money to install a decent sound system. ?We have a major fundraiser quiz night coming up next month,? says Mr Pryor.
