“Since August, when we announced plans to expand our regional banking hub trial and include a hub in Tūrangi, we’ve worked very closely with the Taupō District Council and investigated several sites in the town.
“Due to a range of issues, primarily low seismic building ratings that would put staff and customers at risk in case of an earthquake, we have not been able to secure a suitable location.
“It’s unfortunately no longer possible to open a regional banking hub in Tūrangi within this trial’s timeframes. We’ve tried very hard to get an appropriate site in Tūrangi and we are disappointed this couldn’t go ahead as part of the trial. We appreciate the community will also be disappointed. Tūrangi may be considered again in future.”
Mike Bowie, the Tūrangi development lead for the Taupō District’s economic development agency Amplify, said he was “gutted” about the outcome, but should the trials develop into a permanent initiative, there was still every chance there would be a banking hub in Tūrangi in the future.
Should there be a decision to base a hub there permanently, it would give a landlord every incentive to invest in upgrading or building new premises that meet the earthquake code in the centre of town.
“It potentially gives us some breathing space while we work with a landlord who is prepared to put money into renovating premises for a long-term, gilt-edged tenant.”
He said the trials had proved successful in other areas so far and both major political parties had indicated they would continue to support the initiative into the future.
A banking hub would be of huge benefit to individuals, but also business owners, who could discuss their needs directly with their bank and also get their cash floats for the day without having to travel to Taupō.
Taupō District Council Tūrangi councillor Sandra Greenslade said it was just “reality” that none of the buildings in Tūrangi measured up to the 67 per cent earthquake-proof rating the Banker’s Association required.
“It is really, really sad. As [the area’s] councillor, I am absolutely devastated, because this was going to be fantastic for people in Tūrangi.
“It is very upsetting for the people of Tūrangi. We have got a lot of older people here and a lot of people for whom it is expensive to travel to Taupō. It’s 100 kilometres to go up there and back, and here we were thinking we were going to get something amazing.”
She said the 67 per cent rating requirement of the earthquake code was actually quite low and a lot of organisations now required 80 or 90 per cent ratings.
Playing catch-up
She said other good things were going on around the town, including the new St John Ambulance building and the new sports facility Te Mataapuna at Tūrangitukua Park, both of which were formally opened last week.
“But I did feel like it was two steps forward and one step back when I heard that.”
She said the Te Mataapuna building was the first public building to be built in the town in 50 years.
“I’ve put that out there to the council and said, ‘You just think about that everybody’. This is the first new public building in this town for 50 years, you have got a long way to go.
“It’s not their fault personally, but it has been years and years and years of neglect and everybody knows it. It’s just been sticking tape and catching up.”
The next project the council and the Tūrangi Co-Governance Committee would be turning their attention to was the Tūrangi Recreation Activity Centre, which had $15.9 million allocated to it in the Long Term Plan in 2021.
Work on the new Te Kapua Park Playground was also under way, and a $6.6m street revitalisation project has also seen crumbling kerbs and channelling replaced over the past two years. That was funded by the Government’s ‘shovel-ready’ project fund.
This is a Public Interest Journalism funded role through NZ On Air
