Drop-in sessions at the Whangamatā TCDC meeting room, 620 Port Road:
- Industry session for real-estate professionals, builders, developers etc Tuesday 5 November 1-2pm
Sessions for general public:
- Wednesday 6 November: 10am-2pm
- Monday 11 November: 10am-1pm
- Friday 15 November: 3-6pm
- Tuesday 19 November: 10am-1pm
Check it out
Our Council has approved signing an agreement with the trail builder, Hikuai District Trust, that will guarantee ongoing public access to the trail once it’s complete. The agreement will also mean that our Council can ensure the trail is safe and maintained, while the Trust is responsible for, and pays for, maintaining the trail, including assets like boardwalks and the bridge over the Tairua River that was recently consented.
The Trust has been working for years on building the path (and fundraising to pay the costs) to connect Pāuanui and Tairua. A 120-metre suspension bridge will cross the Tairua River from where the trail currently ends on the Pāuanui side of the river, and the final stage of the trail into Tairua can now be built, to complete a fully off-road cycling and walking path between the two towns. The risk of the Trust falling over leaving Council with the costs of maintaining the trail assets are seen as minimal as the Trust is well established and well run and has considerable fundraising experience. Our Tairua-Pāuanui Community Board has contributed $592,900 in funding since 2013 and has committed to providing an additional $171,400 in grants by 2027. The Trust has raised an additional $515,300 and has benefited from thousands of hours of volunteer labour.
Learn more about the Tairua River Trail at their website.
Work will begin next month to extend Buffalo Beach’s rock wall and restore a section of the beach that was lost to erosion from Cyclone Gabrielle. The rock wall, near Halligan Road, will be extended by about 30 metres north while gradually tapering to help minimise the ‘end effects’ of wave action on the end of the wall – a byproduct of all coastal hard structures.
Our Council has partnered with contractors Roadworx and LDE (Land Development and Engineering) to carry out the work, which also involves restoring the affected section of Buffalo Beach Rd pathway and landscaping the area’s vegetation. Waikato Regional Council and our Council (via an independent commissioner) have both issued the necessary consents. Work is expected to be carried out for two weeks from November 11 to 21, 2024, weather pending. For safety reasons, people will not be able to access the worksite during this time.
Find out more
We're carrying out stabilisation and sealing works on Opito Bay Road and Blackjack Road, which will involve intermittent road closures.
- Closure Details: The roads will be closed for 50 minutes, with a 10-minute opening under a Stop/Go system at the start of every hour.
- Dates: Tuesday 22 October – Friday, 1 November
- Locations: Various sites along Opito Bay Road and Blackjack Road
These works are weather dependent and are expected to last for two weeks. Please plan your travel accordingly, and we thank you for your patience during this period.
Starting Monday 21 October, our Council will be working on a slip repair project along Port Charles Road, approximately 10.6km from the start. Works are expected to wrap up around Tuesday, 12 November (weather permitting).
Here’s what to expect:
- Stop/Go traffic management will be in place with speed restrictions.
- Anticipate delays of up to 15-20 minutes.
- Work hours: 7am – 7pm, Monday to Saturday.
- No work on Sundays, public holidays, or long weekends.
Thank you for your patience while we work to keep the road safe.
Next year’s Whitianga’s Summer Concert will receive a $10,000 grant from our Council’s District Events Fund to cover the cost of buses transporting people safely to and from the event, held at Whitianga Waterways Arena on Auckland Anniversary Weekend.
The decision was made at Our Council’s Tuesday 15 October meeting, where elected members chose to fund the $10,000 plus another $25,000 to Creative Coromandel’s artbeat spring festival.
Money from the District Events Fund is aimed at helping support events that would attract people to the district. It is hoped that more visitors to the area would help inject the local economy and stimulate local business.
Summer Concert information
If you’ve got rubbish and recycling to drop off at the Whangamatā and Tairua Refuse and Recycling Transfer Stations (RTS) during their opening hours, please enter the sites via the kiosks to dispose of your items. We’re closing the rubbish and recycling drop-off areas located before the site gates during RTS opening hours, but they’ll be open for drop-offs when the sites are closed (ie, after-hours). All seven of our district’s Refuse and Recycling Transfer Stations are open from 8:30am-5:30pm.
Hours and locations
Two bylaws were reviewed, opened for your feedback, and passed by our Council this week, to manage parking and traffic on the district’s roads.
The Traffic Control Bylaw 2017 was reviewed and amended, with the amended Traffic Bylaw 2017 coming into force on 1 November 2024.
The Traffic Bylaw covers local roads, including: setting out one-way roads, restricting turns, prohibiting or restricting classes of vehicles on particular roads and designating cycle paths. Copies of resolutions made under the Traffic Bylaw will be published in the Register of Resolutions.
The Parking Bylaw |Ture ā-Rohe Tūnga Waka was made on 15 October 2024, coming into force on that day, with the aims of enhancing and promoting road safety, and achieving an appropriate and equitable allocation of parking places between different road users.
Most of the bylaw provisions enable the Council to control the use of parking spaces by Councillors’ resolutions. Copies of resolutions will be published in the Register of Resolutions. Other provisions in the bylaw deal with how fees for use of parking spaces can be collected and the process for getting an approval from the Council to use certain parking spaces.
Tukia tō reo ka rere | Let your voice fly
If you live, or work, or play in Thames-Coromandel, Hauraki and Matamata-Piako we want to hear from you about what matters most, to help our community groups and our Council inform important decisions.
The survey will ask questions about your overall feelings and aspects of your wellbeing, including:
- Physical | Taha tinana and mental health | Taha hinengaro
- Social connections | Taha whānau
- Spiritual wellbeing | Taha wairua
- Factors that affect your wellbeing, such as transport, internet access, housing, and community support.
Completing the survey will take about 10-15 minutes, and your feedback is invaluable.
The first 2,000 people to complete the survey will go into the draw to win one of 80 gift cards valued at $25 each – one in every 25 wins.
Complete the Hauraki Opportunity survey here
Our Mayor Len Salt is all in for Gumboot Friday, and he’s calling on our community to join in.
"Thames-Coromandel is 100% behind Gumboot Friday," says Len, giving a nod to how much the event means. "We’ve all had personal experiences with mental health challenges, which is why it’s so important to get behind mental health awareness, both personally and as a community."
Our Council is supporting the Friday 1 November “Gumboot up NZ!” campaign. 100% of donations goes towards funding free youth counselling.
Does your community group or organisation have any events or fundraising initiatives planned for Gumboot Friday? If so, share with us your latest activities or initiatives to support Gumboot Friday on 1 November.
Everyone who shares their updates by emailing isla.anderson@tcdc.govt.nz by Thursday 24 October will be entered for a chance to win a pair of I am Hope Gumboot Friday gumboots.
Gumboot Friday, founded by mental health advocate Mike King, provides free counselling for any young person in New Zealand aged 25 and under. With an overworked, underfunded, and under-resourced public mental health system, young people needing urgent help are often forced to wait far too long. Gumboot Friday offers a lifeline to these young people, giving them access to counselling when they need it most.
Consent Tracker will be unavailable on Saturday 19 October from 8am to 10pm for scheduled maintenance. We apologise for any inconvenience.
Acquire skills and insights from Jenni Giblin at Funding HQ on how to access and secure funding for your group or organisation. Funding HQ's founder, Jenni Giblin, will be visiting the region to deliver the workshops in-person in early November.
Destination Hauraki Coromandel is a charitable trust, and a Council Owned Organisation of Thames-Coromandel District Council and Hauraki District Council. We are seeking experienced governance professionals and those with a passion for the tourism industry to submit expressions of interest for positions on the Board.