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MANGAWHAI'S NO.1 NEWSPAPER  header call 
Melody sales@mangawhaifocus.co.nz 021454814
Nadia n.lewis@xtra.co.nz 021677978
Reporting: Julia news@mangawhaifocus.co.nz 0274641673
 Accounts: Richard info@mangawhaifocus.co.nz 021678358

 

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Ed Said - The irresistible force meets the immovable object

 
 

 

Mangawhai’s spectacular recent and projected growth is now being talked about in more than just whispers. There’s more than a little hand-wringing about it, but I suspect the worry is more about how the predicted growth will manifest itself. Will we see a natural, organic, measured development, or will it be a shit-hitting-the-fan type situation where the consequences of too-much-too-soon will end up all over the walls, ceiling and curtains?

While one faction laments the growing town’s innocence-lost, another is over the moon that, thanks to soaring house prices, there’s another zero on the value of their property.

The irresistible force is progress. Development. Change. The future, everywhere, creeps slowly and often dangerously forward like hot lava. Yes, there is plenty of time to stand there and consider your options before getting out of the way and beating a hasty retreat, but in time the future passes over, around or through you whether you like it or not.

Mangawhai has reached that point where there is the inevitability of big change. A paradigm shift is underway. The Mangawhai Central development is at the heart of this change, where the big concern for many locals is not development per se, but sustainable development. And rightly so. Recently formed community advocacy group Mangawhai Matters has been using the knowledge and experience of its members to lobby commissioners at a recent Mangawhai Central plan change hearing (PC78), submitting that the developer’s intention to add many more house lots to the original plan is not sustainable, and there are concerns over fresh and waste water facilities. Read more about the situation on page?

The immovable object must be the fairy tern. There’s a comical image in my mind where over time ‘progress’ continues to loom imposingly, like a giant glacier, over Mangawhai, casting a foreboding shadow over fairy terns and their nesting sites. Progress moves slowly forward, unstoppable, but the birds don’t budge. What happens next? We don’t know, but the recent failed heritage wharf project has certainly highlighted that there is a real contradiction between environment and development. There needs to be a very sensitive approach to balancing the needs of the fairy tern and development of the local area. In any case, there has been an emotional public reaction to the wharf’s consent failure. Read letters to the editor on page ?

Out of the bleak of winter and through a mild spring, we now hurtle towards what many say will be another hot, dry summer. There is every chance this holiday season will be unprecedented as far as visitor numbers are concerned. Without the option of international travel, thousands more visitors could find their way to Mangawhai. Bursting at the seams could turn into a complete prolapse. Everyone needs to be prepared.

Rich, Editor

 


 
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