Message from the Mayor

What a year it has been.

It’s been an unsettling and challenging time with the emergence of the COVID delta virus, and as we head into the New Year we will be operating in a very different environment with the introduction of the traffic light system and vaccine passports.

Our community can feel proud of the huge efforts that have been made to get as many people double-vaccinated as possible to protect each other in Hastings – my thanks go out to all involved.

By continuing to be vigilant, hopefully we can settle into a more stable routine while we learn how to manage our lives and businesses in the new environment of living with the virus.

We have all had to learn how to adapt to the challenges that have come our way, and our community has shown itself to be resilient, a strength we will continue to call on in the year ahead.

That resilience has been invaluable as, despite the challenges, we continued to work towards realising some of the big goals we set out in our Long Term Plan 2018-2028.

These included implementing our drinking water strategy, putting in place the infrastructure to deliver safe, reliable drinking water to our communities, working to provide homes for our people, revitalising our city centre to make Hastings an even more attractive and appealing place to spend time, and managing the ongoing growth our district is experiencing.

Over the following pages we have outlined some of the work we have been engaged in with our community, and it really does make you feel Hastings Proud to see how much is being achieved and the major milestones that will be reached over the coming year.

As we approach the festive season one of the big impacts we are feeling is not having our popular Christmas events like Carols in Cornwall Park and Christmas in the Park.

Not being able to come together at this time is hard, but we are ensuring there is a festive feel in the city centre with lighting displays and other activities, and I encourage people to shop local, and if staying in the Bay enjoy the holidays exploring all that our beautiful district has to offer.

Wishing you and your whānau a wonderful Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

Ngā mihi

Sandra Hazlehurst

Mayor of Hastings

1 December 2021

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