Whanganui district councillors making big calls on aviary, Māori ward and kerbside recycling

Earlier this year, councillors voted 7-6 in favour of closing the aviary.

It is crunch time in the Whanganui District Council chamber this week, with elected members making calls on the Whanganui Māori ward, kerbside recycling, Rotokawau Virginia Lake Aviary and Sarjeant Gallery.

The council voted to close the aviary as part of its Long Term Plan (LTP) but a community group, Friends of the Aviary, has formulated a business plan to take over operations.

According to a report in Tuesday’s council meeting agenda, chief executive David Langford is satisfied with the latest version of the plan and is prepared to transition the facility to the group.

The plan includes selling the aviary structures to the trust for $1 and having a peppercorn (token or nominal) lease for the land.

Employment will be offered to the aviary staff, with resourcing supplemented with volunteers.

Part of the deal is a one-off $20,000 grant from the council to “allow an approximately six-month grace period in which to find ongoing funding for the aviary”.

The group estimates annual operating costs will be about $49,800.

In June, elected members voted 7-6 to shut the facility, with Whanganui Mayor Andrew Tripe and councillors Charlie Anderson, Charlotte Melser, Josh Chandulal-Mackay, Kate Joblin, Ross Fallen and Peter Oskam in favour of the closure and councillors Michael Law, Glenda Brown, Jenny Duncan, Philippa Baker-Hogan, Rob Vinsen and Whanganui Deputy Mayor Helen Craig against it.

Councillors will decide whether to reaffirm their 2023 decision to establish a Māori ward for the 2025 local election, with two representatives to be voted on to the council.

If councillors vote to retain the ward, a binding poll will be held in conjunction with the 2025 election.

Whanganui councillors voted 8-5 in favour of the ward last October.

Joblin, Law, Brown, Melser, Chandulal-Mackay, Baker-Hogan, Oskam and Duncan voted in favour, with Anderson, Vinsen, Craig, Fallen and Tripe against.

Whanganui District Council chambers during deliberations on the Māori ward last October.

The council will also vote on whether to have 12 councillors – 10 from the general ward and two from the Māori ward – on the ballot for the 2025 election.

In June, a working party recommended the council comprise eight councillors from the general ward and two from the Māori ward, but that was overruled by the council and again last month by the strategy and policy committee.

Council officers recommend keeping the Māori ward and 12 councillors.

Last month, the council received a petition from 63 residents on Papaiti and Waireka Rds demanding the new kerbside recycling service be pulled from their area, which is in the rural zone, according to Whanganui’s District Plan.

Group spokesperson Barbara Gray said residents had been “in the dark” until the recycling crates arrived.

The 2022 consultation document said the service would be provided to Whanganui’s urban area, plus the three villages.

Property and open spaces general manager Sarah O’Hagan told the Chronicle in July areas were not categorised as rural or urban for kerbside recycling, with “a whole range of factors” considered, including serviceability, housing density, road conditions and accessibility.

At Tuesday’s meeting, officers will recommend the service be kept as it is, meaning residents of Waireka and Papaiti Rds will remain part of the network.

In an agenda item on the redeveloped Sarjeant Gallery, officers will recommend using $271,336 of unbudgeted expenditure to support the operation of a cafe at the site.

The council proposes to engage a contractor and pay them a set monthly fee, with all profits/losses going to the council.

A report from project director Gaye Batty says the allocation of the funding “will ensure a practical and cost-effective model is in place in time for the gallery opening” on November 9.

Tuesday’s meeting, which is open to the public, begins at 1pm in the council chamber at 101 Guyton St.

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present, his focus is local government, primarily Whanganui District Council.