Newsham called the Marlborough District Council, which sent contractors with sandbags to stack along the stop bank. The banks had been built up to their current height after the Tuamarina flood in 1983. If the river rose only another few centimetres, it would have poured into his property, filled his house and destroyed the vegetable garden, he said. “We’ve dodged a bullet, really.” The police arrived to escort Newsham from the property later that afternoon, on their rounds to check Spring Creek residents had evacuated.
RICKY WILSON/Stuff
Cars and trucks queue on State Highway 1 waiting for the highway to Picton, top left, to reopen on Saturday afternoon.
SUPPLIED/Marlborough Express
The proposed Whale Trail, in red, uses the stopbank behind properties in Tuamarina before joining SH1. The other option, sticking to the stopbank, in orange, needed landowners on board. It looked liked the wheels were finally in motion last year when the project received $18 million from the Government, putting it on the post-Covid “shovel-ready” list. But turning the first sod could be a ways away yet in Tuamarina. Residents aren’t happy with the route, which would take cyclists along the stopbank at the back of their houses, before taking a hard right at the community hall and left onto SH1 for 50 metres.
But not without some councillors voicing their disapproval – first in February, then again on Thursday – arguing a sub-committee added “another layer of bureaucracy” to the council’s road naming process. Councillor Jamie Arbuckle said ahead of last week s meeting that councillors “should just shut up” if road names satisfied council rules.
RICKY WILSON/STUFF
Marlborough District councillor Jamie Arbuckle was one of several councillors who attempted to stymie a new road naming sub-committee. “We have a policy. If the developer’s name meets the conditions of the policy, then the developer should be able to name the subdivision s roads whatever name that they wish,” Arbuckle said.
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Marlborough council sets up sub-committee to decide road names
4 Apr, 2021 02:19 AM
4 minutes to read
Several Marlborough councillors last year criticised Rose Manor s new road names for having colonial cringe . Photo / Chloe Ranford, LDR
Several Marlborough councillors last year criticised Rose Manor s new road names for having colonial cringe . Photo / Chloe Ranford, LDR
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By: Chloe Ranford
A new group will be formed to screen road names in Marlborough after councillors criticised developers twice last year for choosing names that were too English.
Councillors first butted heads in March last year after a developer asked to put down English-themed street names, some of which were criticised for reeking of colonial cringe .