My new routine is to walk the dog on Uretiti beach before 9am (no dogs after that during the summer), a swim in the ocean, then a coffee in the village – at the Cafe Deli. Not a bad way to start the day.

Today there was a slight swell, but off shore wind, so the sea was great – warm, clear, a wave to dive under and to pick you up and take you in.

Last night local Dave Brown had his annual corn party – a great barbecue, shared food, and lots of locals outside enjoying the balmy evening with an almost full moon.

It is great to be home.

For the past 4 years the Winter@Waipu festival has helped to put a sparkle into Northland’s winter, and given us an excuse to have a night out, do something different, or celebrate our local talent.  Some events have drawn people from out of the immediate community which has been good for local businesses.  The Waipu Business and Promotions Group financially supports the advertising, Simtrek hosts a web page and up until now Rosemary Neave has done the bulk of the overall organising of the Calendar.

• Shall we continue it? If so are there people who can help to organise the calendar?
• Shall we shorten in – instead of 3 months – move to 1 or 2 months.
• What is the best and cheapest way to advertise it – locally, to others in driving distance, to Aucklanders or those further afield?
• Other thoughts….

We need the feedback of community groups, individuals and businesses
- come along to a special meeting and share your thoughts

Waipu Anglican Church on 3 March at 5.15pm
Or ring or email Rosemary with your ideas/feedback  09 4321234  rosemary@breambay.co.nz

While we might be experiencing a downturn in the economy at present, there is no doubt in most people’s minds that our district will at some future stage continue to grow and develop.  The Whangarei District Council has set up a Sustainable Futures 30/50 project which is designed to look at how to manage this growth sustainably.

David Coleman, from the District Council, will be attending the next Waipu Residents and Ratepayers meeting to give a presentation on this.  You are warmly invited to attend.  The presentation will last 30 minutes followed by questions, then there will be the chance to talk informally before the usual meeting contineus

More information available:  www.futures.wdc.govt.nz

Special Meeting of the Waipu Residents and Ratepayers
Wednesday 25 February  7.30pm  Anglican Church Waipu
ALL WELCOME

2.  Winter@Waipu  – shall we keep going with this event?

For the past 4 years the Winter@Waipu festival has helped to put a sparkle into Northland’s winter, and given us an excuse to have a night out, do something different, or celebrate our local talent.  Some events have drawn people from out of the immediate community which has been good for local businesses.  The Waipu Business and Promotions Group financially supports the advertising, Simtrek hosts a web page and up until now Rosemary Neave has done the bulk of the overall organising of the Calendar.

- Shall we continue it? If so are there people who can help to organise the calendar?
- Shall we shorten in – instead of 3 months – move to 1 or 2 months.
- What is the best and cheapest way to advertise it – locally, to others in driving distance, to Aucklanders or those further afield?
- Other thoughts….

We need the feedback of community groups, individuals and businesses
- come along to a special meeting and share your thoughts at the Waipu Anglican Church on 3 March at 5.15pm
Or ring or email Rosemary with your ideas/feedback  09 4321234  rosemary@breambay.co.nz

They are open Wed – Sunday 6pm to close and Saturday and Sunday for Breakfast/Lunch 9.30-2.30. Sundays in Winter (June/July/August) they are offering a three course meal for $38. So why wait – Ph 09 432 0877 to book

Angela Stolwerk and Paul Wickham who are owners of the BP garage site showed pictures of their proposed building there incorporating office and retail space.  Their project will be done in stages, with Stage 1 beginning next year.

Leigh Butler spoke about her proposed development on the site between the Vet and the Coronation Hall.  They are much further ahead with their resource consent process, but are awaiting some firm tenants before proceeding further.

Questions to both parties focused on timing of the projects, the look and feel of the buildings, possible tenants, parking and cost of leases – a subject they were understandably reluctant to confirm at this stage.

Bruce Larson of Northpine Ltd in Waipu also updated the meeting on their plans to expand their facilities, which will mean another 10-12 people employed at the plant, which is one of the largest employers in Waipu.

Rosemary Neave as treasurer spoke about the growth of Winter@waipu and the need to develop a sponsorship model to ensure it continues to profile Waipu and Bream Bay in the winter season.

At the end of the meeting Councillor Phil Halse stood up and said what an amazing community Waipu – businesses investing in the area, people keen to engage in the process and give feedback, as well as the energy behind Winter@waipu events in the community.

The other reason for developing Winter@waipu is of course to have fun and to continue to showcase the creativity and life that abounds in this great area.

Winter@Waipu is an opportunity for your business
to both support this event and to benefit from it

Ideas for your business to make the most of Winter@Waipu

1. Advertising: if you advertise your business on radio or in publications – what about also including a mention for upcoming Winter@Waipu events or mention the website – Winter@waipu
2.    Offer Winter@Waipu Specials and advertise them as such in your shop – several years ago we offered special “Winter@Waipu Special” posters  – contact me if you would like some of these
3.    Special Weekends: Winter@waipu is over June, July and August and while there are events on every week, we are especially highlighting the first weekend of the month, as this is the day that there is a market day in the Hall, and the opportunity to build on that to create more reasons to walk the streets and browse the shops.

First weekend in June – June Long weekend with the usual markets and a special focus on the celebration of the arrival of the Breadalbane.

First week in July, not just Tartan Day but now Tartan Week!
From Tuesday 1 July up to the Sunday.  We are encouraging retailers and visitors to town to wear tartan, and are featuring special offers with a scottish flavour -   Artform is offering complimentary porridge, the butcher is offering a taste of Haggis for shoppers, there will be complimentary shortbread to give away to tartan wearing shoppers (sponsored by the Waipu Business and promotions Group)  What can your business do?

Themes during tartan week – get into the spirit…..

• Tues 1 July      -  International Tartan Day – wear your tartan
• Wed 2 July       - Wimbledon Day
• Thurs 3 July     – Royal Day in Waipu
• Friday 4 July     – Snow and Classic breakfast at Artform
• Sat 5 July     – Tartan day parade  and young people busking (encourage them!)

First Sat in August Boot and Barrow Sale in the Main Street
Locals can have a  $5  / stall in the main street –
The Great Waipu Wheelbarrow Race Caledonian Park  Saturday 12 midday
How can your business join in the spirit of these events?

The Waipu Business and Promotions Group invites you to get into the Spirit of Winter@waipu and help us to build trade in this traditionally slower part of the year.  Let’s make Waipu a must place for people to visit from Whangarei, the North Shore, or from New York!

The main advertising feature this year will be in the Look North Publication, which will be delivered shortly – keep a copy as reference in your shop – give them away to customers.

For more info: Rosemary Neave   4321234 rosemary@breambay.co.nz

I am a firm believer in co-operation and partnership as a way of growing individual businesses and to promote economic development.  Deb Bell from Rotorua uses the phrase Co-opertition to describe this.  Working together to grow all our businesses and to grow a region economically

1. Arts and Culture Strategy
The lack of a clear and transparent Strategy in this sector is promoting a culture of competition and defensiveness that will hamper fututre development in this area.

Competition between Hunterdwasser vs the art museum vs the Maunu Museum Hihiawa  is not a good look for Whangarei District and will  hamper funding bids, as major funding groups are looking for a degree of cohesiveness and co-operation on local projects.  This dilemma has already been seen in the Events Centre vs Kengsintan Stadium upgrade.

People are looking to the Council to take a lead in developing a District Wide Strategy, Council should not just be another one of the competing players.

I believe it is imperative that Council revisits its Arts and Culture Strategy, with a view to incorporating the Hundertwasser project, along with the Hihiaua Peninsula project which a lot of background development work has already been done for.

Revisiting the Strategy will enable us to build a solid framework for future planning and to gain community support for a number of projects which have the potential to re-invigorate the District.

2. Twin Coast Discovery Highway
This Highway is a key part of the Northland Tourism Strategy, but has not delivered much for the Whangarei District.  For many years people have been working towards routing this Highway through the Town Basin and out to the Tutukaka Coast.

A recent major review of the Highway has come up with a recommendation to this effect, and we are now in a unique position to take advantage of this to promote our District.

Tourism in Northland for many years has operated under the assumption that there are three major icons in the North that are drivers of Tourisn  in the North – Bay of Islands, Cape Reinga and the Waipoua Forest.  After much lobbying and work, we have managed to have the Poor Knights Islands added to that list.  This is an extremely significant development for us, and we are now in a unique position to build on this and the Twin Coast Discovery Highway review to divert tourism traffic through the heart of our district.

However all this is dependent on new signage which will promote this new route.  It is imperative that funding is set aside in this years budget, to be spent before the comng summer period to
-    scope the project to ensure that the best possible  signage is designed
-    create and install the signage

3. Rates and Economic Development
This is no time to hold back on promoting economic development and inwards investment in the District, and in particular in the Tourism Sector.

In Tourism we are on the verge of significant expansion, investment and opportunity.  We need to expand and to develop new quality product to continue to develop Whangarei as a destination and not just a toilet stop on the road north.

Tourism is already the second biggest contributer to the Northland Economy and there is potential to grow this. With globalisation causing many exporters to move off shore, tourism provides an excellent opportunity to develop a stronger industry sector.

Only  2 in 5 international visitors come north, even if there is a drop off of total numbers coming to NZ, there is the potential to grow our market share.  We are also investing in the domestic and Australian market to grow our shoulder and winter seasons in order to make the industry more sustainable and enable more full time jobs in the sector.

Council has a statutary responsibility to support economic growth, and in order to do this it needs to maintain its partnerships in this area to maximise the benefit of the growth for the whole community.

In particular we need to appoint and support a new economic development officer, in particular to further develop an events strategy and inwards investment

Questions from the Council after my presentation included several which focused on asking where my priorities would lay in relation to Economic Development vs Infrastructure investment.

I answered this by saying I did not like the question, which fundamentally missed my point – which was that we should be working together on a win – win basis not an either/or basis.  We need both, and we can only establish priorities when we get down to the nuts and bolts of particular projects.  They are two sides of the same coin.

Northland tourism’s sustained period of growth extended into 2007 but the industry is adjusting for the prospect of tougher times ahead.

Newly-released figures show that in the year to December 2007, Northland achieved a 3.02 percent increase in visitor nights, a measure of the length of stay in the region. Over the past five years, Northland’s annual growth in visitor nights has averaged 2.06 percent – outperforming Nelson, Taupo, the Coromandel and Auckland.

Destination Northland manager Robyn Bolton said all three districts of Northland had enjoyed longer stays last year in the analysis of the Statistics New Zealand commercial accommodation monitor by APR Consultants.

However, overall numbers of visitor arrivals in Northland had fallen marginally. “These figures indicate that although our visitor numbers were effectively static last year, we did a good job of convincing them to stay longer and travel throughout the region,” said Ms Bolton.

Investment in well-researched new accommodation, restaurants and activities has topped the $150 million mark over the past two years, while contributions from tourism operators – which provide the majority of Destination Northland’s annual budget – had been maintained at a high level.

The outlook for the current year was challenging for all sectors of the economy, and Ms Bolton said there was a likelihood that Northland tourism figures would be flat for 2008.

The previously-high value of the New Zealand dollar, rising airfares and slowing economies in key markets had the effect of discouraging international travellers, or reducing the length of time they spent in New Zealand, while New Zealanders were feeling the effect of hikes in interest rates and fuel costs.

Other regions of New Zealand had also awarded large funding injections to their tourism organisations, making it a challenge for Northland to retain its current market share.

Balancing those factors, the dollar had recently begun to fall and there was a possibility that New Zealanders would find international airfares too expensive and decide to take holidays at home instead.

Ms Bolton said it would probably be late in the year before a clear picture emerged, and in the meantime, monthly figures were likely to fluctuate.

The industry was focusing its promotional efforts on the domestic market – which currently delivers around 60 percent of Northland’s visitors – and Australia which is Northland’s largest and closest international market.

Northland tourism operators in partnership with Destination Northland have made an unprecedented financial commitment in buying in to the AA’s 101 Must Do’s for Kiwis 2008 campaign.

A new five-year strategy for Northland tourism is also about to be launched. The first update since 2003, the final draft of the new strategy has been circulated for review by major stakeholders, and is due to be released mid June. The review has been overseen by the Northland Tourism Development Group.

Tourism is the second-biggest contributor to the Northland economy, bringing in more than $650 million each year and employing one in nine Northlander

www.Northlandnz.com

1. The low rate increase barely keeps pace with inflation, so means a significant cut in services.

Service reduction has already been noted by people in our area – less road sealing, longer waits to implement structure plans, lack of adequate monitoring processes. I believe that such a cut at this time of growth in the district might give a short term benefit, but in the long run will leave our district unable to grow sustainably and become the ultimate living environment. Services and plans identified in the last annual plan, should NOT be cut. In the long term community plan process communities demanded that their local infrastructure needs be dealt with in the short and medium term, not the long term. The down stream effects of cutting services and putting off infrastructure investment will mean a significant cut in environmental quality and local services and infrastructure, and will slow economic development.

2. The implementation of Structure Plans into the District Plan should be given high priority.

In particular the Waipu Township Structure Plan and the Waipu Cove/Langs Beach Structure Plans. Funding should be allocated to allow these to be implemented in the shortest possible time. To delay this puts our whole environment at risk, and gives no security or clarity to developers.

3. Planned infrastructure developments in Waipu such as the upgrade of the sewerage system should be expedited in the shortest possible time. This is a high priority for our community.

Waipu’s ArtForm will host performances on April 20th and 25th April

ph 09 432 0280 for bookings – $50 includes show and 3 course meal

The Private War of Corporal Cooper, an evening of drama, music and words devised by Mary Stevens and Sheri O’Neill, promises to be a thoughtful and moving evocation of the Great War.

The Mangawhai Tavern is the venue for the opening performance on April 19th – 09 431 4505

Sail Rock Cafe, Mangawhai sees the final performance on April 26th – 09 431 4051

Please contact the venue directly for tickets, or if that proves to be difficult, please contact Huw Turner on 09 432 0880 or bogwoodinfo@gmail.com