Rotorua Lakes Council pauses $10m reserve upgrade, citing budget issues

The Waikawau/Hannahs Bay boat ramp in January last year. Nireaha Pirika is chair of the reserve committee. Photo / Andrew Warner

Members of the Waikawau/Hannahs Bay Reserve management committee are shocked the reserve’s planned $10 million upgrade has been paused indefinitely.

Rotorua Lakes Council voted at a meeting last month to halt all further work on the reserve project, citing budget pressures, impact on rates and the need to prioritise “core or essential” projects.

Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell said the council was not in a financial position to progress.

A future council could decide when the project would be “most appropriate and most affordable to the community”.

The upgrade had $10 million allocated, with $500,000 scheduled to be spent next year.

It aimed to improve safety for children by separating vehicle access from the playground area.

Vehicles towing boats currently pass right by where children play, and shifting the boating area would reduce risk.

Deputy Mayor Sandra Kai Fong, who put forward the notice of motion to “pause” the project, said projects not deemed essential would fall “below the line”.

She described plans to “simply move a jetty” and relocate a car park as a “nice to have at the moment”.

Kai Fong said the project hadn’t come to their attention during Long-Term Plan deliberations because it had been under the “different heading of Parks and Reserves”.

Councillor Don Paterson said he only recently learned of upgrade plans and found it “quite confusing” it had “never come before us”.

Councillors Robert Lee and Don Paterson in a March 2025 workshop. Photo / Laura Smith

Waikawau Reserve Management Committee chair Nireaha Pirika told the Rotorua Daily Post the pause “was not well received around the committee table”.

He could not understand how some councillors did not seem know anything about the $10m upgrade.

Pirika said the plans for the reserve had been worked on for several years.

The reserve committee was formed in 2019 with representatives from Ngāti Uenukukōpako, Ngāti Te Roro o te Rangi, and the Eastside Community Collective.

The motion to pause had been late notice, Pirika said.

Rotorua Lakes Council supported and adopted the management plan of the reserve in June that same year.

A council spokesperson said the funding had been included in the approved 2023-24 Long-Term Plan.

The reserve committee was informed on June 18 when the notice of motion was publicly notified.

The spokesperson said more than $1m had already been spent on the reserve, which would continue to be maintained under the council’s regular reserve maintenance programme.

Councillor Robert Lee at a July meeting. Photo / Laura Smith

Councillor Robert Lee is on the Waikawau/Hannahs Bay Reserve Committee and said in the meeting he raised questions about the project’s funding nine months ago.

He was surprised the funding hadn’t come before councillors earlier.

“It’s only right and proper that we do pause work at this time until it is properly consulted,” Lee said.

Lee said the committee had gone through a lot of trouble to develop a master plan that had been progressed “an awful long way down the path”.

He said significant progress already made included the establishment of wetlands as part of an arrangement when Rotorua Airport was extended.

The reserve committee’s vice-chair, Ralph Mosen, called the decision to pause the project “a waste of funds”.

He claimed some of the work would need to be redone when the project eventually resumed.

The council confirmed a significant amount of work in the reserve was already complete, but said concept designs for further development would not be wasted if the project was reconsidered in the future.

Mosen said the board remained committed to the upgrade but expected the process would now be delayed for “quite some” time.

Annabel Reid is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke’s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.