Message from the mayor

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you have had a wonderful break over Christmas and New Year and enjoyed happy times with friends and family.

We are all still waiting for summer to arrive in Heretaunga Hastings, but we know the sunshine is on its way and with it the apples will ripen and we will enjoy everything our beautiful district has to offer.

Many of our people have enjoyed our beautiful parks and reserves over the break and some great events over the summer.  The new Flaxmere Park skatepark opened in December and has been the go-to place for our young people to enjoy and practise their skills.

One of the highlights we are looking forward to in July this year is our celebration of Hastings’ 150th birthday - an incredibly exciting milestone for our district.

We will also be celebrating the completion of our drinking water network upgrades, and the opening of Waiaroha – the world’s first water education facility.

Revitalising our city centre continues, with our focus turning to the west side of the city including our upcoming “Stunning Stortford” initiative.  We expect at least five new businesses to establish themselves in Stortford Lodge this year, and we will upgrade and improve the streetscape as we have done on the east side of the CBD.

Since purchasing the Tōmoana Showgrounds last year we have been setting up an advisory group to identify future opportunities and a strategic direction for this local asset. Along with our community, we are excited to start work on a Reserve Management Plan this year that will enable us to protect, care and enhance this beautiful green space for our community now and in the future to enjoy.

This year many more new homes will be built in “Fabulous Flaxmere”, an important step in our vision to house our people in their own homes from where they can build a better life for them and their children.

We are very excited about the year ahead. Despite the pressures of the high cost of living we know our families are facing, we will support our community as best we can. We have so many great people in our community who go above and beyond to make a difference in their selfless support of others. Together, our community will continue to thrive and prosper.

Best wishes for 2023!

Ngā mihi

Sandra Hazlehurst

Mayor of Hastings

30 January 2023

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