Long Term Community Plan 2012-2022 - Hurunui District Council

www.hurunui.govt.nz
Activity 3: Reserves
Overview
The Reserves activity includes the Council’s:
• Parks and Reserves
• Cemeteries
Current Situation
Parks & Reserves
There are currently 160 parks, reserves and recreation areas
in our district. This includes the Hanmer Springs Thermal
Reserve, now known as the ‘Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and
Spa’. This section does not discuss the pools and spa as this
is a significant activity on its own right. Please refer to the
Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa section of this plan. The
reserves discussed in this section cover the 29 parks (picnic
areas/playgrounds), 10 camping grounds and 146 developed and
undeveloped reserves and plantation areas in the district. The
reserve portfolio now includes approximately 6.0 hectares of
the Queen Mary Hospital Historic Reserve in Hanmer Springs
(formerly owned by the Canterbury District Health Board).
Our reserves are highly regarded by those who use and
benefit from them. Council’s committee structure includes
several Reserve and Ward Committees which are delegated
responsibilities to ensure reserves are maintained and useful
for people to enjoy. The committees’ memberships include
volunteers and Councillors. The work of all of these groups is
sincerely appreciated by Council.
In 2011, The Council approved a smokefree strategy in
conjunction with Smokefree Canterbury. Our starting point is
to encourage no smoking around children’s playgrounds.
Cemeteries
There are 9 open cemetery reserves throughout our district
located at Balcairn, Cheviot (Homeview), Culverden, Glenmark,
Hanmer Springs, Horsley Down, Rotherham, Waiau, and Waikari.
We also own the Jed Cemetery Reserve in Gore Bay, Cheviot,
which is open only to ashes interments of family members
previously buried there.
Each of the cemeteries has more than enough vacant plots to
last for at least the next 10 years. Of the 9 cemeteries, Balcairn
Cemetery is used the most frequently with approximately 22
plots sold on average each year. In contrast, our least frequently
used cemetery is Rotherham, with an average of 2 plots sold
each year.
Whereas we own the cemetery reserves, we do not employ
staff to dig graves or maintain the cemetery grounds. Instead,
we contract the services of sextons, gardeners and trades
people. Cemetery plots are sold by Council staff. Anyone is
able to purchase a plot or to be buried in the cemeteries – they
are not only for Hurunui district residents.
Plans for the future
Parks & Reserves
We have had a comprehensive District Reserve Management
Plan since 2008. The Plan is being reviewed to update the
Governance and Management responsibilities and to identify
future development plans for each of the reserves. The current
plan identifies capital projects for some of the reserves but
these are to be removed. Instead capital projects will be
identified through the Long Term Plan process. Each ward is
being allocated money form the Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools
and Spa surplus, known as the ‘contestable fund’ to pay for the
capital projects.
The Queen Mary Hospital Historic Reserve Management Plan is
a new plan confirmed in late 2011 and approved by the Minister
of Conservation. That plan sets out the overall management goal
for the reserve and is supported by policies in the plan. It can be
found on our website: www.hurunui.govt.nz and use the search
to find the Queen Mary Hospital Historic Reserve Management
Plan. The plan includes a landscape plan for the reserve and
conservation management plans for each of the three historic
buildings on the site. We will be seeking expressions of interest
for the use of the buildings in 2012. Before we confirm or
agree to any proposals for the use of these buildings, public
consultation will be undertaken first to make sure any proposal
has the support of the wider community.
we will be progressing our Smokefree strategy to include all
Council awned reserves. The approach we are taking is to
encourage non smoking in public outdoor areas, but not to
regulate.
Cemeteries
There is a budget provision to purchase land beside the Balcairn
cemetery when it becomes available to future proof our most
popular cemetery. $120,000 has been put aside for 2013/14 to
do this although there is no immediate concern that we will run
out of space for some years.
Most of our cemeteries have many years remaining before they
will run out of space. It is predicted that the demand for plots
within the district’s cemeteries will increase gradually over
the next 50 years, due to the increasing age of the population
within the district. There is generally an increasing trend away
from cemetery burials as people are moving towards cremation
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