Connections

Halswell Connections

Meeting held Tuesday 16th March 2021

Halswell Community Hub - 381 Halswell Road, 12.30-1.30pm

Present:  Keri Glassenbury (Halswell Community Project), Robyn White (Halswell Friendship Club and Garden Club), Ross McFarlane (Halswell Residents Assoc) , Ros Thornley (Halswell Community Project), John Bennet (Halswell Residents Assoc), Andrei Moore (Community Board), Judith Penney (Halswell Hall), Mike Snowdon, Philippa Kelliher, Anne Galloway (Councillor),  Debbie Mora (Community Board), Margaret Murdoch, Megan Thompson (Megan Woods), Sam Holland (Community Rec Advisor) Peter Mechaelis (Halswell Lions), Kate (Library), Marilyn, Emma Pavey (Community development Advisor)

Apologies: Kate Cleverly

Discussion:

Halswell Residents Association

Speakers Ross McFarlane and John Bennet.

HRA has been around for 26 years in which time they have had 2 chairmen and 3 secretaries. The group was formed originally around discussions regarding the swimming pool and land from the domain and has spent the last 26 years fighting for the community on various issues.

For 15 years HRA fought the council and developers to keep the land on the domain, eventually winning through the environment court to retain 13 of the 15 hectares for the community.

Other projects over the history of the HRA have included:

• Discovering and uncovering a sunken forest on Quaifes road that has been there for 900 - 1200 years.
• Keeping the No 7 bus route past the hospital.
• Protecting the historical farm buildings at Aidanfield and erecting the monument on the corner of Aidanfield Drive and McMahon Drive.
• Erecting a memorial stone in Wigram to the 7 Airmen that lost their lives in 1953
• Fighting the increase in the number of liquor stores in the area and their opening hours. HRA took legal action against the liquor store proposed for the shops on Ensign Street and lodges an appeal when it was approved. The liquor stores licence application has been in for 12 months and there have been no incidents. Ross and John acknowledged the support they received during this battle.

Ross and John also discussed some of the issues currently facing Halswell as a community that HRA are working on.  These  include the ongoing growth, with 6750 sections left to be developed, traffic and speed issues,, bus routes and the CCC and ECAN long term plans as well as the local representation review and the schooling in the area. 

HRA also run the ANZAC parade which will be held on 25th April 2021.

Halswell Residents Association meet on the last Monday of each month at St Mary's Church - their next meeting is  at 7pm on 28th March and all residents are welcome.

Margaret - local resident-  Raised concerns regarding land being raised behind Kennedys bush road.  Ross McFarlane is going to look into it.

Halswell Hall

The Hall’s AGM was a success with Anton Matthew’s as guest speaker, very inspirational.

Judith noted she has received several enquiries for space on a Sunday for Church groups.  No space available.

More work and volunteers needed on landscaping at the Hall.

The Halls received approximately $30,000 per year from Hirers and relies on Funding and fundraising for the rest.  Currently needing $7000 to trim the trees posing a risk to the car park and public as too large.  The hall received $20,000 from Rata for a foldable stage.

Drama group began their first rehearsal last night for the upcoming performance of Little shop of Horror later in the year.

$1000 was raised from the bulb fundraiser.

Declined Harcourts funding.

Friendship Club/Garden Club

Robyn noted both clubs ticking along as usual. 

Halswell Lions

Peter discussed the Lions connection with Hillmorton High School and the Scouts.  

300-400 bales of pea straw available for sale.  They have been updating their presence on facebook and social media.  With a strong focus of memberships.

 

Halswell Community Project

The Halswell Hub has been busy with many new residents dropping in to see what’s happening in the area.  Clubs and activities they can involve themselves in.  

The Market sadly was cancelled at the very last moment due to moving into level 2 at 6am that day.  Market will run quarterly for 2021 and hopefully returning to monthly in 2022. 

Children’s day at the Quarry another victim of COVID but we are looking to run it at some stage in Spring.  

Planning is under way for the April school holidays for some free activities at the hub.

Anne Galloway

Discussed the need for feedback on the long term plan.  This is available online and in paper form.

Hillmorton High School needs help with getting their gym.  Any organisation that might be able to help/fundraise.

Kate - Te Hapua

The better digital for seniors course is now in its 3rd week and running well. Free course for over 65’s. 

 

Meeting Closed 1.30pm

Next Meeting:  Tuesday 13th April  12.30 - 1.30pm

Emma Pavey - Community Development Advisor

Sam Holland - Community Recreation Advisor

Halswell Connections 

Meeting held Tuesday 16th February 2021

Halswell Community Hub - 381 Halswell Rd; 12.30 - 1.30pm

Present: Kate Cleverly (Halswell Community Project); Keri Glassenbury (Halswell Community Project); Robyn White (Halswell Friendship Club and Garden Club); Adrienne Senior (MenzShed); Peter Mechaelis (Halswell Lions); Ross McFarlane (Halswell Residents Assoc); Andrei Moore (Community Board); Judith Penney (Halswell Community Hall); Chrys Horn (Halswell Community Project); Margaret Trotter (Oaklands School)

Apologies: Swantje Bubritzki; John Bennet; Emma Pavey; Sam Holland; Anne Galloway; Alice McLay; Megan Woods; Debbie Mora

Discussion:

Unfortunately Emma (CCC Community Development Advisor) was sick so the discussion was a general update and networking meeting hearing from each group represented.

Halswell Hall

Judith outlined that the Hall now has a 5 year strategic plan in place covering long term plans, maintenance schedules etc.

The Hall is currently running a Spring Bulb fundraiser - details can be found on the facebook page or by emailing Judith for orders. Judith is hoping to be at the Halswell Market on 28th Feb to promote this and take orders.

Halswell Menzshed

Adrienne said the MenzShed is going very well and has been running for approx ⅚ years now.

Roger Spicer is managing the Shed and doing a very good job of getting out and networking with local groups and maintaining and growing the groups community focus. They are working on lots of projects both at the Shed and around the community and are always open for groups who need some help with building projects to make contact.

Friendship Club/Garden Club

Robyn said that the friendship club has just celebrated their 12th Birthday.  They have monthly meetings at the Library and in between have monthly coffee meetings and outings.The Garden Club also meets monthly and is going well.

Halswell Lions

Peter outlined that the Halswell Lions are an established local group and are looking at networking with as many local groups as possible. They hold their own events - Carols in the Quarry for example as well as supporting other local events like the Celebrate Halswell event and others.

The Lions are keen to grow and develop their membership and would like to hear from community groups wanting/needing support with events and activities that they can help/get involved in

Halswell Community Project

HCP exists to promote activities and events across the community and connect people regardless of who they are or where they come from.  Kate and Keri outlined some of the activities that HCP run - the local market, events, school holiday activities, monthly newsletters, website, weekly coffee morning and mahjong groups and the Halswell Hub

Upcoming events to note - Halswell Market - 28th Feb; Children’s Day - 7th March.

Halswell Residents Association

Ross outlined some of the work of the Residents association. Currently they are advocating for an increased share of facilities in the Halswell area to cope with the continuing growth. He pointed out that Halswell still has 6570 sections to be developed before it is considered completed. This is a huge number of sections and will need an investment in the infrastructure for the area.

Local Residents.

Ashley, Philippa and Mike described issues with traffic and lack of facilities/infrastructure as well as speed limits and the way Halswell Junction Road divides the community. They also pointed out that commercial hubs were either non-existent in some parts of the community or consisted of very similar shops. For example - Longhurst is almost entirely food outlets. 

Tracey McLelland - MP.

Andrei said that Traceys office had been really busy with a wide variety of issues. Tracey will be holding another drop in clinic in Halswell on 13th March from 9.30 - 11.30am at the Library.

Community Board

Andrei outlined several issues that the community board are looking into at present.

Speeding - particularly around the new Richmond Avenue intersection as local residents report not feeling safe

Consultation on the Long Term Plan - Halswell needs more input into this in terms of submissions in order to get fairer access to funding for infrastructure for the future growth of the community.  He felt that we needed to be getting into the hundreds of submissions to be heard and in order to help guide this we need to first gather information from the community on what is needed so that Halswell remains a desirable place to live and doesn’t become over congested due to the lack of facilities and infrastructure.

Community Facilities Network Plan - despite the map showing a huge gap in facilities in the Halswell area, the document stated that there were no geographical gaps. This has now been amended.

Land at Quaifes Road - the land has not been sold and the community board are encouraging the council to retain at least some of the land for future community facilities. They have gone back to Ngai Tahu for consultation as this was not done previously to determine any significance of the land to them. The group felt that as a community the discovery of the ancient totara stumps on this site meant that the land had a significance to the whole community. Halswell Residents Association are working with the council to get a land survey of the site to determine if there are any sizable sections of wood left that could be used as an example for significant carvings

Water - the council are in full agreement over the removal of chlorine from the drinking water and are awaiting the exemption from central government to do this.

Oaklands School

Margaret outlined the progress with the rebuild. The School is almost finished with just the last part being the hall and final landscaping. With the exception of 2 pre existing classrooms all students are now in new facilities and the new courtyard and sports court are complete.  The rebuild has been 3 years in the making, the school is looking really good and it has been a positive start to the year.

There will be an official opening coming up and next steps are looking at the schools branding to incorporate the gifted name Te Kura o Ōwaka.

Oaklands currently has a roll of around 575 with 120 year 7 and 8s

 

Meeting closed 1.30pm

Next Meeting:  

March 16th - Halswell Residents Association

April 13th -  Emma Pavey - Community Development advisor. |. Sam Holland - Community Recreation Advisor

Possible/Suggested Topics for future meetings:

Tracey McLellan/Megan Woods - local MPs

EcoSort - Recycling

Craig Pauling - Regional Council

CCC Planner - what they see happening in/around Halswell

Hillmorton High School Update

Zahra Hussaini