A much-loved Carterton green space is moving closer to an upgrade with the council endorsing a key agreement.
The Carterton District Council [CDC] has endorsed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Friends of Carrington Park group [FOCP] that is working with it to develop the park.
The Memorandum was endorsed at the same time as final detailed designs for developing the park were put before the council at its last meeting of the year on Wednesday [6 December].
Carrington Park is Carterton’s largest and includes a children’s play area, walking track, fitness equipment, outdoor basketball court, skate ramp, and band rotunda. Local sports groups use the playing field.
The Memorandum of Understanding will be in effect until September 30, 2028.
A report tabled at the meeting said the community felt the space was underutilised and expressed a desire to create a destination intergenerational playground that told a story about Carterton.
Work had already been done with funding from the Department of Internal Affairs and the support of the Carterton community to design plans for the play space.
Final designs included a water play area, with a skatepark area set out in an adjacent project. Work is planned to take place in three stages.
“FOCP will work with CDC on the delivery stage of the project,” the report said.
The Memorandum of Understanding aims to promote awareness, support community engagement with the project, and drive its process and delivery.
In supporting the council’s decision, Deputy Mayor Dale Williams said council support is important for the project’s progress.
“It’s relying [on] community volunteers and community-passionate people to take this concept and run with it,” he said.
“Yes, we’ll have ongoing maintenance, yes, we’ve got obligations as the landowners and yes, we want a great thing to happen in our community.
“If we don’t endorse the MOU then nothing will happen from here.”
Williams said the project has ‘fantastic’ potential but had so far relied on community groups to move forward.
“The fact that they’ve got designs, they’ve got a group of people, and they’ve got enthusiasm is really worthy of us encouraging them to go as far as they possibly can.”
– NZLDR
Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
