Ashburton Courier: September 24, 2021

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NEWS 18 Ashburton Courier, September 23, 2021 www.ashburtoncourier.co.nz Funding to protect Rakaia fish habitat Fairton School pupils hunker down from dust as NZ Army helicopters fly overhead. PHOTO SUPPLIED Army action for school Fairton School pupils had an excitingstart to the week with the airbornearrivalof New ZealandArmy soldiers training in the grounds of theTalley’spremises beside the school. Theschool,and others in thecommunity,had been made awareofthe training exercise by letter. School principal Mike Hill said around 90 personnel from the2/1 Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment at Burnham Military Camp were involvedinthe three dayexercise. ‘‘We knewthey were coming... so we took the children overtosee the helicopters arrive and the soldiers (disembark).And then the soldiers set off down the road and around thearea,’’ he said. The dust thrown up off an empty paddock saw the pupilshunker downto protectthemselves as the helicopters flew overhead, Mr Hill said. The exercise involved soldiers with weapons flyingin by helicopter on Monday, soldiers movingby foot along Office and Fairfield road areas carrying rifles withblank ammunitionusedand pyrotechnics inside the empty Talley’s facility. The facilitywas the Silver Fern Farms meat plant whichclosed in 2017 and decomissioned, was bought by Talley’s in 2020. Fish &Game, working with Canterbury highcountry farmers, New Zealand Salmon Anglers Association, Rakaia River Promotions and Environment Canterbury, have secured funding from the Ministry for the Environment for ahabitat protection project in the headwaters of the Rakaia River. The funding will allow staff to identify and protect valuable habitats used for salmon and trout spawning and rearing. Protecting valuable wetland habitats will also be afocus. Acornerstone of the project will see the East Branch of the Glenariffe Stream, which runs across Glenariffe Station, realigned and protected. North Canterbury Fish &Game chair Alan Strong said the stream would be enhanced to increase its productivity for chinook salmon and trout. ‘‘We have been working hard on this project for almost ayear and have secured funding for the project for the next three years,’’ he said. ‘‘The team are excited to get boots on the ground and make astart as soon as possible.’’ The Glenariffe system has historically produced between 20 30 percent of the Rakaia River chinook salmon, but in recent years has seen a reduction in returning fish. The system also provides asignificant proportion of the Rakaia River trout spawning and rearing. The project was designed to maximise the time juveniles spend in the stable stream environment before entering the more volatile Rakaia mainstem. The wetlands protected will also provide additional areas for precious longfin eel to live. Glenariffe Station owner Mark Ensor said the work would protect the area for future generations and act as anatural hatchery for the fishermen of the Rakaia River. Mr Ensor said it was possible to run asustainable farming operation while protecting sensitive habitat and biodiversity for the benefit of future generations of Kiwis. The New Zealand Salmon Anglers Association have been part of the Fish &Game councils decisionmaking process and fully support the project. New Zealand Salmon Anglers Association president Larry Burke said anything that helped the iconic salmon of the Rakaia was apositive step forward. Rakaia River Promotions, the organisation behind the Rakaia River Fishing Competition, who have along history of contributing to various projects in the Rakaia catchment, were also part of the team. Rakaia River Promotions president Ken Lee said it was fantastic to be part of aproactive project which will safeguard the sustainability of both salmon and trout, which the annual Rakaia River celebration and competition relied on. Say hello to an actual human. Our local insurance brokers are here to help. Talk to areal human about your insurance in Ashburton. LIGHT SPEED EMPATHY REAL-TIME INTUITION REAL VOICE WAVE2630AC Call 03 307 6790 or visit aon.co.nz Proudly local. Proudly human.
www.ashburtoncourier.co.nz Calves enjoy ascenic slurp NEWS Ashburton Courier, September 23, 2021 19 New rating valuations Calves enjoying adrink on asunny, Spring day in apaddock located just outside Methven. The paddock is adjacent to the new Thyme Stream subdivision from where apath links the township to the Methven Walkway. Events for mental health week Connecting MidCanterbury Charitable Trustisorganising a numberofevents for Mental Health AwarenessWeek (MHAW), whichruns from September27toOctober3. The trustoversees the running of Mid Canterbury TimeBank andKeepLearning Mid Canterbury. TimeBank is teamingup with Wellbeing Opuketorun events focused on the MHAW theme of ‘Taketime to korero', which is aboutconnecting with the people and creating space for conversationsabout mental health. On September 29 there will be gatherings in both the Ashburton Domain and Methven playground, (near the medical centre), at 5.30pmfor people to come togetherwith picnics and takeaways. On October2acafe gathering is planned at 10.30am at the StaveleyStore and the following day TimeBankwill celebrate its fourth birthdayand bring people together at familyfriendly event at Trott’s garden. Entrytothe garden is $5 and there will be activities for childrenand food provided between 2pm and 4pm. Registration can be done through Eventbrite. KeepLearningMid Canterbury has five events planned which are open to everyone. Each focuses on the five ways to wellbeing. There is achance to ‘connect’ on September 27 (Ashburton PublicLibrary 4pm until 7.40pm), to ‘take notice’ on September 28 (Ashburton Parents Centre 5.30pmuntil 6.30pm), to ‘give’ on September 29 (Resource Recovery Park education centre1pm until 3pm), to ‘keep learning’ on September 30 (Ashburton PublicLibrary 3.15pm until 5pm) and to ‘be active’ on October 1(EA NetworksCentre gym 1pm until 2pm). Full eventdetails on the Eventbrite website. AshburtonDistrict property owners are duetoget new rating valuations in the post. New valuations have been prepared for 15,764 properties by QuotableValue (QV) on behalf of Ashburton District Council. The total rateable value for the district is now $20,494,086,450 with the land valueofthose properties valued at $13,742,687,650. Rating valuations are usually carried out on all New Zealand properties every threeyears to help councils set rates for the following threeyear period. They reflectthe likely selling price of aproperty at the effectiverevaluation date, which was1July 2021, and do not include chattels. The value of residential housing within theAshburton District has increased by an average of 25.5% since 2018. The average house value is now $486,000, while the corresponding average land value has increased by 33% to an average of $200,500. QV area manager Kris Rodgers saiddemand for residential housing hadbeen buoyant across the region, with most townships in the district seeing increases of between2130%overall. ‘‘We have seen significant value lifts across the entire residential market since our last rating revaluation back in 2018 with values still rising strongly.’’ ‘‘Lowervalue properties have seenthe most competitionfrombuyers, resulting in the greatest value increases. ‘‘Demand from buyers coming from outside the regionhas also helped fuel the local residentialproperty market,’’ he said. Commercialproperty values have increased by 12% and property valuesinthe industrial sector have increased by 13% since the district’s last rating valuation in 2018. Commercialand industrial land values have also increased by 4.4% and 8.3% respectively. ‘‘While there has been demand from buyers for good quality properties with favourable leases in place, this has been offsettosome degree by online competition for retailers andthe start of apost lockdowntrend for more people to work from home,’’ Mr Rodgers said. ‘‘We have seen steady value increases for industrial properties andalimited supply of industrial land within theregion has seen a boostinland values.’’ Since 2018, the average capital value of an improved lifestyle property has increased by 16% to $790,000, whilethe corresponding land value for alifestyle property increased by 20.3% to $417,500. ‘‘Lifestyle properties typicallyaligninvalue with highendresidential properties andthis segment of the markethas been strong. ‘‘A smaller market and less demand has meant there has not beenquite the same increase in the land valuesas seen in the residential market,’’ Mr Rodgers said. He said there had been good activity and value growth for dairy, arable and pastoral properties overthe last eight to 10 months. Pastoralproperties on average have seena2% increase from 2021 value levels, with the majority of growthexperienced in the foot hills andhigh country. Mr Rodgers said the effective ratingrevaluation date of 1July 2021 had passed and any changes in the market since then will not be includedinthe new rating valuations. Thismeans in many cases a sale priceachieved in the market todaymay be different to the new ratingvaluation set at 1July 2021 and that rating valuations are notdesigned to be used as market valuations for raising finance with banks or as insurance valuations. The updated rating valuations are independently audited by the Office of the Valuer General and need to meet quality standardsbefore the new rating valuations are certified. New rating values will be postedafter September29. If owners don’tagree with them they they have aright to objectthroughthe objection process before November 4. Want to get paid for your weeklywalk? I’mMarythe Delivery Supervisor forthe Courier. I am looking for reliable people to deliver the Courier each Thursday in the Tinwald area. If you are keen to find out more about this opportunity, please send me an email or give me a call and we can talk further. Please email mary.summerfield@ashburtoncourier.co.nz or phone Mary on 03 308 7664 forfurther details. 2409686
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Ashburton Courier: September 24, 2021

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