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Pahīatua on Track says Tararua District Council’s “urban buffer zones,” that set a minimum subdivision size of 8000sqm, are restricting urban growth.
A community board is warning Tararua District Council their zoning rules could limit a town’s ability to expand, as the region deals with a rapidly growing population for the first time in its 30-year history. The Tararua district’s population peaked in the 1960s and was in constant decline until 2013, and since 2018 the population growth had repeatedly blown past the council’s estimates – based on the highest forecasts from Statistics NZ. Pahīatua on Track chairwoman Louise Powick said the community board was concerned that the council’s district plan was constraining urban growth, and limiting Tararua’s ability to ensure there were enough houses for the growing population.
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Henry Sedcole s great-grandson Ian Bailey is cutting up Pahīatua’s original Sedcole Flagpole to be distributed as heirlooms among family.
Pahīatua will soon have its historic centrepiece restored, with a replica of the Sedcole Flagpole going up as the damaged original is returned to the descendents of the man who donated it to the town. The wooden flagpole was Pahīatua’s first public structure, erected by town co-founder Henry Sedcole as a community focal point for gatherings and discussions in 1900. It was taken down for restoration in 2015 after it became structurally unsound. The flagpole proved beyond repair and a replica to carry the original plaque and mark the historic location was planned to go up during Pahīatua’s town upgrade.