March 29, 2017
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Wild food and fun at Whangaripo festival What’s inside Motorway feature
pages 13-15
Easter holiday feature
pages 21-25
Oaks on Neville Street feature
Kids of all shapes and sizes were taking the strain in Whangaripo on March 18, when the community’s annual Wild Food Festival and children’s races took place at the Whangaripo Hall. Wild turkey terrine, tempura crickets and chocolatecovered cicadas were some of the more unusual delicacies on display, with more conventional local food and drink stalls outside and music from Mangawhai band The Aloha Corner. The annual community get-together finished with the traditional adults tug-of-war between Whangaripo Valley and the rest of the world, with the hosts maintaining their fouryear winning streak.
pages 26&27
localmatters.co.nz
Carpark sale thwarted – for now at least Sally Marden
An Auckland Council bid to sell Warkworth’s Baxter Street carpark was defeated at the last minute after Cr Greg Sayers and Rodney Local Board Chair Beth Houlbrooke joined forces to fight the proposal. Both representatives gave vigorous
presentations to Council’s Finance & Performance Committee on March 21, and Cr Sayers rallied local support on social media by encouraging residents and businesses to email councillors before and during the meeting. As a result, the committee agreed to delay selling the site until alternative parking options had been explored, repair and maintenance funding issues
had been resolved and a further report submitted, all within three months. Cr Sayers said the result was a victory, although there was no guarantee that Council wouldn’t vote to sell the carpark at a future date. “The main goal was to get the number of votes required to stop the approval of the sale,” he said. “Thanks to the
community groundswell of taking action, we won that vital battle.” The committee wants Council to explore whether there are better sites with at least the same number of carparks or more in Warkworth, and also whether the carpark could be sold with some kind of proviso that any purchaser would have to include
off the drawing board this month . . .
New Home - Whisper Cove
awell Graham SARCHITECTURAL DESIGNER
PH 425 9759
9 Falls St • Warkworth
continued page 2
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