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September 12, 2022
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Infrastructure
gap proves
costly for ridge developer
Love was in the air when the evening performance of Catwalk Arts in Warkworth drew to a close on August 27. Sheral Anand, 24, from South Auckland, was on the catwalk modelling her own creation, Shernique, when her boyfriend Divesh Goundar, 25, of Pokeno, jumped on stage, went down on one knee and proposed in front of everyone. Unbeknown to Sheral, Divesh had earlier secured the permission of the organisers, Lesley Ingham and Shona Pickup, who helped make it happen. “My only fear was that she might say ‘no’,” Ingham said. But luckily for Divesh, the answer was a resounding “yes” and the couple are planning two weddings in a year’s time – one in New Zealand to honour Sheral’s Christian faith and a second big Indian wedding in Fiji to honour Divesh’s Hindu faith. Photos, Colin Staples, The Photo Store.
A major residential development in Warkworth has incurred significant additional costs after accelerating its development process with a Private Plan Change. Templeton chief executive Nigel McKenna told a Warkworth Liaison Group meeting last week that he had had to make contingency plans for water and wastewater, given that there could be a 12-month lag before these services were available on site. Templeton is developing the Warkworth Ridge project, around the Matakana link road, which will connect to the new wastewater treatment plant being built at Snells Beach. Auckland Council’s Unitary Plan had envisaged the land being development ready by 2026, but Templeton had sped up the process with Plan Change 40 that became operative in June last year. Work started on site soon afterwards. Titles for the first tranche of sections are expected to be in place by early next year, but the treatment plant won’t be finished until 2024. “We cannot afford to have land sitting vacant waiting for water and wastewater connections,” McKenna said. He said the contingency plans included installing costly booster pumps to get consistent water pressure and a back-up trucking plan to take wastewater off site. “Effectively, it’s like taking out an insurance policy. We know the water and wastewater continued next page
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