Waipuke Reserve
A road in Maungatautari named after a former mayor has been renamed Te Hiwi Drive following a decade long community campaign.
It was a test for Waipā’s new Naming Policy and required Governance manager Jo Gread’s intervention at the district council’s Service Delivery committee this week when it was thought the proposal would have to go out for consultation.
John Hewitt
The road is a 1.3km accessway within Waipuke Park on the edge of Karāpiro.
It is not a formal public road and so there was no legal requirement for consultation, but Customer and Community Services group manager Sally Sheedy said staff felt it was prudent to do so given it was the first name change since the policy change last year.
Council bought the land, on which the road is on, in March 2001. The farm had previously been known as Te Hiwi which means the ridge of a hill.
Ten years ago, council adopted the name Waipuke (loosely translated as flooded area) for the reserve around the road after it was gifted by Ngāti Korokī Kahukura.
Sally Sheedy
But instead of calling the road Te Hiwi, favoured by several residents because of the land’s history, then mayor Alan Livingston said it was appropriate to name it after former mayor John Hewitt, who had recently died.
It was an acknowledgement of his involvement in the property’s strategic purchase, Livingston said.
Seven years later, a petition presented to council asking for the road to be renamed was turned down.
Councillor Roger Gordon said the debate seemed to have been going for some time and that there appeared no obvious dispute about the renaming.
Roger Gordon
He asked staff whether consultation was necessary given Hewitt’s family supported the name change provided he could be acknowledged somewhere else, preferably in Te Miro.
Livingston, who hails from Te Pahu, has a road named after him in St Kilda, Cambridge while the first Waipā mayor, Bruce Berquist has a road in Te Awamutu, where he was from.
Current mayor Susan O’Regan agreed with Gordon.
She asked whether the council’s Significant Engagement Policy – which requires community consultation – had been triggered with the name change proposal.
Susan O’Regan
“This matter had dragged on for a very long time,” she said.
Councillor Marcus Gower said he understood the naming policy had to be tested “but this is not the right road to do it.”
Fellow councillor Lou Brown agreed saying council had already done the hard work and it was appropriate for the committee to endorse the change.
Maungatautari resident Ruth Strawbridge, who has advocated for the name change for years, was at the committee meeting and told The News she was pleased common sense had prevailed and the name would be replaced.
Marcus Gower
Council staff will reassure the Hewitt family that the name would be used in a more appropriate location and noted community support for Te Hiwi Drive.
Lou Brown
