February 13, 2019
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Link road win?
Shaun Boucher (pictured) thrilled the crowds at the 2019 Mangawhai Bowl Jam held at the Mangawhai Activity Zone on February 2. Shaun took second place in the Open section. First place went to Bowman Hansen, his third win in a row. The skating competition attracted more than 60 competitors from New Zealand and Australia – the largest field ever. Organiser Jesse Peters says he was especially thrilled to see the Masters (skaters over 40) perform to the highest standards. The winner was Andrew Morrison, aged 50. “To still be skating at that age, and if not better than those competing in the Opens, is something else,” Jesse says.
A four-lane Matakana link road could be back on the cards, thanks to intensive local lobbying and liaison with Auckland Transport (AT). Rodney Councillor Greg Sayers told a Matakana Community Group meeting on Thursday, February 7 that as a result of the community meeting held at the Bridgehouse in November and “a lot of meetings” since, AT had listened and was prepared to be flexible. He revealed AT was returning to Warkworth to put forward a revised plan last Friday morning, as Mahurangi Matters went to press. “We believe there will be good news at that meeting,” Cr Sayers said. “We believe AT has listened to us and will come up with a positive solution. It looks like we will get what we want. It may not be absolutely everything, but it will not just be two lanes.” Rodney Local Board chair Beth Houlbrooke agreed. “They appear to have listened. They have constraints to work within, but I think we have made some good progress. It may not be perfect, but we have made significant steps.”
Funding blow threatens river dredging A government decision to veto funding from the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) to dredge the Mahurangi River will force dredging operations to cease by the end of this month, unless the cash can be found elsewhere. The Mahurangi River Restoration Trust started dredging in earnest last year after the Rodney Local Board
allocated $250,000 towards the $5.1 million cost of the project. The aim of the dredging is to reap a host of aesthetic, recreational and economic benefits for generations to come. By Christmas, the trust had raised $1.5 million from various sources, but hoped to get the bulk of the rest of the money –
about $3.5 million – from the PGF. The trust applied for funding about nine months ago although, technically, the project was not eligible because it fell within the Auckland region and Warkworth is not considered “provincial”. However, Mahurangi River Restoration
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Trust management committee chair Steve Burrett says during months of negotiations, officials led the trust to understand that this would not be a handicap because the economic benefits would be felt beyond Auckland. “The whole way through we were led to believe that although we were in continued page 2 WWW.RDCONSTRUCTION.CO.NZ
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