Camberley carved out of growing Hastings suburb - Michael Fowler

W Lynch & Son’s store – established in 1905 on the corner of Pakowhai Road and Omahu Rd, until the 1970s. It is now the area occupied by Bay Ford. Photo / Hawke’s Bay Knowledge Bank

Opinion

Michael Fowler is a contracted Hawke’s Bay author and historian mfhistory@gmail.com

Stortford Lodge is not an official suburb of Hastings, but was commonly referred to as a secondary business area of Hastings.

It was the invention of William Stock at around 1885.

My research indicates that William named Stortford Lodge after his birthplace: Bishop’s Stortford in Hertfordshire, England, and more specifically, the Masonic Lodge in the town: ‘Stortford Lodge’.

Stortford Lodge straddles an area on the corner of Heretaunga Street West and Maraekakaho Road, and Pakowhai and Omahu roads.

The Stortford Lodge area in Omahu Rd, across Maraekakaho and Pakowhai roads, was part of Hastings until 1909.

Then its ratepayers, mostly small block holders, demanded by a petition to be severed from the Hastings Borough. That was successful.

This area forming part of Frimley was taken over by the Hawke’s Bay County Council.

Their argument: a changed to rating on unimproved land, which favoured urban dwellers of the inner Hastings borough of 740 acres (299ha) with smaller properties, over the small farmers with larger properties on the outer 5000 acres (2023ha).

When Hastings became a city in 1956, reaching a population of 20,000 people – the Frimley block of 1080 people within 1433ha were not counted.

When this Frimley land was put back into the Hastings Borough on April 1, 1957 a leading catalyst was pressure from the Hawke’s Bay Master Builders’ Association for more land to build on.

On the urging of the builders, the Hastings City Council in 1959 set up a town planning committee, and the mayor, Ron Giorgi, stated at the time, “We will plan for the future with courage and insight”.

At the top of the mayor’s mind then was population growth – and how to provide more land for residential growth.

Giorgi worked at his business, the Heretaunga Street East menswear store, Millar and Giorgi, and he was always accessible to any ratepayers who wanted to pop in and have a chat about civic matters.

He was a returned serviceman, where he could also be seen conversing to many ratepayers at the Hastings RSA, where he was president for 25 years.

The area of Frimley South (south of Omahu Rd) which had come into the Hastings boundary (from the county council) on April 1, 1957, was seen as an area for residential expansion.

And the Hastings City Council town planning committee had its eyes firmly on Frimley South during 1959, with the city sewer connected to it that year.

As part of the agreement of the Hawke’s Bay Airport being in Napier, it was agreed that a Hawke’s Bay motorway would be built, but uncertainty over its path led to a delay in developing Frimley South.

Apart from the cemetery, in 1957, the area which would become Camberley contained just bare paddocks, and orchards – such as Sunnybank Orchard owned by the Lowe Family.

To meet the need for more residential housing, a new suburb, Camberley, would be carved out of Frimley, and named in 1966 by the Hastings City Council due to its proximity to Frimley, in Surrey, England, about 48km from London.

When Camberley was laid out, the streets did not follow the grid pattern of Hastings, and curves and cul-de-sacs were used. Streets were named after native birds, such as kiwi, kea, and moa. There was also Sunnybank and Lowe streets, named for the orchard and family who owned it.

A survey of Camberley in 1976 revealed that over half (57.3%) of its population of 2826 was under the age of 20.

To keep them occupied, and to minimise anti-social behaviour that was occurring, there was a desperate need for social and recreational facilities in Camberley.

The Hastings Community Counselling Service was created by the Hastings City Council in 1972 and had established a community group to pursue the idea of a community hall.

Fundraising and a concept plan had begun in 1980 by the Community Service Committee of the Hastings Rotary Club, for a Camberley Community Centre, but nothing eventuated.

Consultation regarding provision of a community centre in Camberley was carried out in 2006.

Due to a favourable response, in December 2007, the now Hastings District Council acquired a 300sqm building from a church at 48 Te Aute Rd, Havelock North and proposed to shift it to 703 Kiwi St, which was a 1011sqm council-owned property which formed part of Kirkpatrick Park – a reserve vested in the council.

It was also proposed – as required by law to provide carparks for the facility – to build on adjoining land – also part of Kirkpatrick Park, a 481sqm carpark.

Kirkpatrick Park was named after a deputy mayor, Alexander Kirkpatrick.

While Camberley was created over 60 years ago, the need for housing areas continues not only in Hastings, but also around New Zealand.