Wrapping up 2024, summer kerbside schedules, roading news and more
Published on 20 December 2024
Wrapping up: our final Council update of 2024
As the year draws to a close, it's time for our Council’s final weekly wrap-up for 2024. We’ll be taking a short break and will be back on deck with our weekly wrap-up from Friday 10 January.
In the meantime, stay connected with us through our website or social media to catch any updates.
From all of us at Council, we wish you happy holidays and a safe and joyful New Year.
Kia pai te wā whakatā me te hākari nui o te tau | Enjoy the holiday season and all the festive celebrations.
Extra kerbside rubbish and recycling collections for the summer peak period start on Monday 23 December for the east coast, Coromandel Town, Coromandel Rural North and Te Kōuma who receive high visitor numbers.
Thames Coast & Manaia, Thames Rural South and Thames & Surrounds stick to their normal schedule of Wednesday and Thursday alternate red weeks (rubbish and food scraps) and yellow weeks (recycling, glass and food scraps).
Throughout the peak summer kerbside programme there are just two public holidays that the contractors are not operating – Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Collections will be a day later following those public holidays. Our Refuse and Recycling Transfer Stations are also closed on those two days.
Check out your calendars here
Printed calendars are available from our Council offices, Information Centres, many of our Pay as you throw (PAYT) tag retailers and at our Refuse and Recycling Transfer Stations (RTS).
Find out more at www.tcdc.govt.nz/bindays
Tips and tricks for bin placement
- Put your bins kerbside on the morning of collection, not the night before.
- Place your bins at least 50cm apart.
- Place bins by your driveway entrance for the driver to easily access.
- Don’t forget to put your rubbish tag through both the red and black handles
- Glass can only be put out in Council crates – a maximum of two per property.
Our Refuse and Recycling Transfer Stations are open every day except Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. www.tcdc.govt.nz/rts
For any queries contact our friendly Customer Services team: email: customer.services@tcdc.govt.nz or phone: 07 868 0200 or online www.tcdc.govt.nz/Contact-Us
Follow us on Facebook for a daily update of collections for the next day.
When using the after-hours drop-off services at Matarangi, Pāuanui and Whangamatā Refuse and Recycling Transfer Stations please follow the instructions carefully to avoid jamming the portable compactor machines.
- Only put one bag in per transaction. If you try to stuff more than one bag, the machines will jam.
- The machines can only process bagged household rubbish. Anything else causes blockages.
All the machines now take both coins and PayWave.
Learn more
Keep an eye out for bad weather heading our way on Saturday afternoon. The MetService is advising that there is a a high risk of heavy rain from midday Saturday 21 December until midnight for the entire Waikato Region, with possible hail and strong wind gusts.
You might want to check your outdoor furniture and equipment and make sure it’s secure, so that the weather doesn’t blow away your Christmas festivities.
The MetService is anticipating rainfall between 10-25mm per hour. Hail as large as 5-15mm in diameter may fall. Strong wind gusts of 80-100km/h are possible. There’s also a low risk of severe thunderstorms.
Metservice website
Updates from NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi
Onetai Stream Bridge, SH26, replacement
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi has informed our Council that the bridge on State Highway 26 (SH26) between Puriri and Hikutaia is being replaced early next year.
The new bridge will be wider and stronger making this key route more resilient and safer. NZTA’s project team expects preliminary work to begin in January 2025.
Given the narrow width of the existing bridge and its approaches, it cannot be replaced in stages, so the highway will need to be closed at the worksite for up to four weeks while the old bridge is demolished, and its replacement is installed. This is expected to start from mid-February.
As SH26 is the only through-route between Paeroa and Thames on the eastern side of the Waihou River, the detour route will be via State Highway 2, Hauraki Road and State Highway 25 for northbound traffic and the reverse for southbound traffic. Once the new bridge deck is in place the road will reopen with some further works under traffic management to finalise the reconstruction.
Plan your journey
Before you travel to, or around, the Coromandel this summer, use NZTA’s Journey Planner to check for road conditions and work sites.
While the team working at the large underslip at Pumpkin Hill just north of Tairua will take a well-deserved break, both traffic lanes will be open with a temporary speed limit in place through the worksite. Work at this site is expected to be completed by April. More information.
Next year NZTA expects to begin repairs at three further slip-damaged sites in February and March, including repairing the underslip between Kūaotunu and Wharekaho, which is currently reduced to a single lane.
Remember, NZTA will have traffic management at the one-lane Pepe Bridge in Tairua from Monday 23 December to Sunday 5 January, with the exception of Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, when there will be no traffic management.
NZTA has also crunched some data from previous holiday periods to compile a list of likely holiday congestion hotspots to help drivers plan ahead to avoid the queues.
Christmas/New Year info
Some rules, regulations and schedules may change.
Our customer services over summer
Our offices (and AA services) are closed from noon on Tuesday 24 December, resuming normal hours on Friday 3 January 2025. Our offices will also close on Anniversary Day Monday 27 January. You can still contact us 24/7 on 07 868 0200 or email customer.services@tcdc.govt.nz.
Alcohol bans
Alcohol bans are in force from 4pm on Monday 23 December until 4pm on Monday 6 January, and over Anniversary weekend from 4pm Friday to 4pm Monday 27 January.
See more
Traffic management for Pepe Bridge, Tairua
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi has informed our Council that they will have traffic management on Pepe Bridge on State Highway 25 in Tairua for a total of 10 days over the peak period. This will smooth traffic flow over the one-lane bridge on the state highway and also allow swift passage of our contractor’s kerbside collection vehicles.
Traffic is still anticipated to be heavy throughout the Coromandel, and the usual bottleneck at Tairua will likely delay drivers, so we’re encouraging locals and visitors to plan their travel to allow for potentially long delays.
Traffic management on Pepe Bridge will be in place on from Monday 23 December to Sunday 5 January with the exception of Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, when there will be no traffic management.
Don’t tempt the rubbish rascals
Don’t have a rubbish time, this summer ... or any time. The less time bins are out on the kerb, the less chance those rubbish rascals can trash them. Keep your bin and it’s contents safe from misuse, only put it out the morning of collection. This will help keep our streets and footpaths clean and tidy. Find out when to put your bins out here.
Soft plastics drop-off Pāuanui
From today you can drop off your soft plastics at the Pāuanui Refuse & Recycling Transfer Station for recycling.
We’re trying out this collection point over the summer (until early February) to see how it works. Soft plastics left at Pāuanui will be sent off to Future Post in Tuakau to be made into plastic fence posts or to saveBOARD in Hamilton to be made into building materials.
It means the Packaging Forum’s soft plastic recycling scheme is now available in Pāuanui, Thames, Tairua, Coromandel Town, Whangamatā and Whitianga. In all the sites, only domestic household quantities of soft plastics are accepted.
Feedback has now closed on concepts for the Whitianga Esplanade Redevelopment project and Thames-Coromandel District Council would like to thank every person who took the time to complete the survey or attend the drop-in information sessions.
Consultation on the project began on 21 November and closed this week on 18 December. A total of 231 surveys were completed and these are now being collated.
Initial analysis of the feedback shows most respondents supported retaining the Esplanade playground (184) compared to the other option of relocating it to Taylor’s Mistake and creating more car and boat trailer parking in its place (37).
A proposed design of creating a new public pier also received strong support (95) compared to the other option of extending the existing pier (41).
The options for Robinson Road Reserve and boat ramp were closer. More people supported an upgrade that didn’t allow for overflow parking at Hilton Reserve (72) compared to those who opted for the overflow (67).
A number of respondents did not choose either answer, opting for “Other” (51) or “I don’t know” (29) instead.
Usage of the passenger ferry was listed by most respondents (152) as their primary top five reason for using the areas. This was followed by walking/jogging/running (142), waterfront events (104), playground (99) and recreational trailer boating (75).
Of all respondents, most were aged over 65 (54), 55-64 (28), or 45-54 (18) and most respondents used the areas monthly (45) or weekly (30).
The concept plans were created after several meetings with waterfront user groups. The survey sought feedback from the wider community about what it most preferred for the Esplanade and Robinson Road Reserve areas.
The feedback will be given to the project’s advisory committee which will present the findings at a Council meeting early next year. The feedback will help guide the Council’s eventual decision-making process.
For more information on the project
We want to say a big thank you to nearly 250 dog lovers who entered our online dog rules quiz. You answered five questions about dog rules in our district, and out of 1,250 total answers, only 25 were incorrect. That means that dog owners in Thames-Coromandel really know their stuff – well done!
The most common mistake? Nearly 7% of quizzers thought dogs were allowed on playgrounds and sports fields if they were on a lead, but dogs aren’t allowed in these areas at all. This rule was put in place to protect children and other users, as well as the assets and equipment.
Everyone who entered went into the draw to win a $100 Prezzy Card, and the lucky winner, drawn at random, is Sally Steven. Congratulations, Sally!
Thanks again to everyone who took part — we hope you had fun and learned a bit more about these important dog rules.
Here's a little dog rules refresher ahead of the silly season
Follow our traffic light signs to understand our dog rules. These rules help to protect dogs, people, and wildlife during peak periods and nesting times.
Our default rule is that dogs are to be kept on lead; so when in doubt, keep your dog on a lead.
- Green signs denote exercise areas: You can have your dog off lead, but it must be under control at all times.
- Orange signs denote on lead areas: Your dog must remain on lead for times noted on the sign.
- Red signs denote prohibited areas: This means no dogs at all. Most beach area prohibitions are either during the dotterel nesting season from Labour weekend to 1 March, or over the summer period and holiday weekends. Please take note of these areas from next Friday 20 December to 31 January during certain times - usually before 9am and after 6pm.
We also have areas that are prohibited all year round.
Dogs around playgrounds: Dogs should never be within a children's playground. This rule was put in place to protect children and other users, as well as the assets and equipment.
Dog poo: Please remember that it is your responsibility to clean up your dog's poo. Take a few bags with you on walks or take advantage of our free poo bag dispensers in some of our district's most popular dog walking areas.
Dog rules specific to your area
We have summaries of our dog rules by Community Board area below or you can check out the full Dog Control Bylaw for all our dog rules.
For information on dog access to public conservation land check www.doc.govt.nz.
Kia ora koutou, as 2024 draws to a close, the Economic Development team reflects on a year marked by resilience, innovation, and notable achievements.
What a tree-mendous year it’s been. With the full team back on board, it’s been a year filled with sleigh-tastic collaboration, elfless advocacy and cracker achievements.
As we look to 2025, we’re ready to light-up new opportunities and wrap up even more success for our district.
On behalf of the Economic Development Team, have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Let’s make 2025 tree-mendous together. If you have a business idea, planning an event, or thinking about a new project that could bring jobs or skill-building opportunities, we’d love to hear from you.
Read the full economic development wrap up
Thanks for keeping your boat clean.
A clean boat is a fast boat, and it helps to protect our gorgeous Coromandel coast from invasive marine pest hitchikers like exotic caulerpa and Mediterranean fanworm. Check and clean your gear and anchor, and get to know the marine pest rules and exotic caulerpa restrictions before casting off on your epic summer cruise at marinepests.nz/rules
