Gardens call in hands of commissioner

Hosking Memorial garden has won the submissions battle with 114 favouring the gardens retention and 12 supporting the council proposed water feature.
Submissions on the proposed water feature to be built at the Hosking Memorial garden site closed on Tuesday and the decision to demolish the gardens will be decided by a local government commissioner.
Hosking garden supporter Lee Quayle said it is an important part of Masterton's history that people should want to retain.
"We live in a world where things are changing all the time just for the sake of change. This is a chance to keep Masterton's history when people seem hell bent on bull-dozing things over."
He said once the garden is destroyed the history would be ruined, "and even if they did rebuild it, it would never be the same as it was".
Water feature supporter Cedric Percy said the Hosking garden lacks any architectural value as it stands.
"The Hosking garden is an obstacle in what is a free-flowing garden throughout the park. It is a swimming pool that was made into a garden and is inward looking in its entirety and should be outward, looking to the future."
Mr Percy said he would be "very disappointed if the garden stays and it would be a big blot on a town that is full of forward thinking people".
He said there are a number of families in Masterton who have contributed to the town and that "the Hosking family's contribution should be put into perspective".
"We should be looking at more than one family's contribution in the park and it is rather narrow to be making such a noise about one quite ugly monument."
Masterton's Bernard Newman says the council failed to consult properly with the public over the developments at Queen Elizabeth Park.
"When the council announced the park development I hadn't realised the extent of it. If I had seen an aerial view of the planned upgrade I would have written to the council immediately."
He said the Hosking garden has been at the park "long enough that it has earned the right to stay there."
"Everything already at the park needs to be respected and there's no reason to replace something that has rightly been there for so long."
An acute interest in local government and a "love of water features" led Helen Dashfield to submit favouring the council's development plans.
"I don't think I would go into the Hosking garden, because there are no rails to help the elderly into it and it's positively dangerous."
She said after living in the area for 75 years she "had never seen anyone go into the gardens".
Masterton district council chief executive Wes ten Hove said the submissions are now in the hands of the commissioner and are no longer a council matter.
"It's good there's been so many views on the development and the resource consent has a process and it is important that it is now left to be run."
He said it is up to the commissioner to decide what information is taken into account when making a judgment on the upgrade.
"Having had response from the public, the quality of the submissions and petitions is not something the council will make comment on and it is now for the commission to decide."