The district wide LED replacement to street lighting is on-going and making good progress throughout the South Waikato. Presently work is being carried out in the Putaruru central shopping area. The street lighting capital programme for 2017-18 focuses on district wide LED replacement. Elevated platform vehicles are being used by the contractor in order to minimise delays when installing the LED’s. Fibre cable installation continues in the Princes Street, Arapuni Road area of the town. Usual internet access is not affected by this but many Vodafone users are having to put up with very slow unload and download speeds that are totally unacceptable. For example, one download of a 1GB security update file was indicating a time of 73 days plus to complete. In the end the download ran out of steam. It eventually completed after 27 attempts over a period of 3 days! There is another provider, but a few years back they changed their name in order to solve customer relation problems.    

Over the past few years, people entering Putaruru from the North have been greeted on the left, opposite Junction Street, with a less than welcoming section. This view was helped by the removal of an ageing house. New fencing was erected, but this too has slowly disappeared and the undergrowth behind it exposed again. But now there is a SOLD sign on the fence. With the entry points into Putaruru often under discussion, many will be awaiting any activity that signals this space will positively influence the impression of those passing by.  

Crowds were waiting for the doors to open at 8:30 this morning for the Scouts Monster Gala Day, held at the Scout Hall in Park Avenue. There’s a very large range of good quality items both inside and outside the hall – and a great sunny morning to explore them. All the traditional items such as clothing, furniture, toys, kitchen-ware, but also others that you might not expect. Support the local Scouting youth, grab a bargain, fresh air and a sausage! It’s open all morning… And the slip, our news item from yesterday, is now cleared.

Looks like the colder weather is affecting most of the country at the moment. Vodafone coverage where the on-line Prattler sends from is almost non-existent, despite requests sent and promises never delivered! According to weather information Waikato, Waitomo and Taumarunui are under a severe thunderstorm watch until 9am, with potential for frequent lightning, heavy rain, hailstones larger than 20mm diameter, and damaging wind gusts over 110km/h. A slip has come down through the footpath barrier near the top of the hill into Putaruru when approaching from the North. How is it where you live? Pictures are welcome about happenings in our area – just send them to to: news@theprattler.org.nz

On Tuesday afternoon this week, after her day at Putaruru College, 15 year old Nikita Akkersma went to Steinies Hair Masters, for a hair cut. Nothing unusual about that, but the story behind this particular haircut cut is. Nikita was about to have about 40cm of her blond hair cut off. She had been growing this for quite a long time and was ready to cut it, because its length. Nikita knew that un-dyed hair of this length could be turned into a wig and sold, so she decided to do this, with the money raised going towards the Breast Cancer Foundation of New Zealand. As Nikita said, it had all the qualities needed to “make the cut.” Measuring, marking and cutting by Steinie then began… Then the styling… After her hair cut, explained Nikita, “many people were first shocked, since I had loved my long hair so much, but then they were proud for the donation that I had made.” Some of her friends took a while to register what she had done and went into “excited shock” when they realised. Reaction varied from, it made her look older, while others said she looked younger. Regardless of the reaction they were all proud of what she had done. Nikita had been planning to cut her hair for over a year but was waiting for “the right moment and length.” With this thoughtful act, Nikita has turned a haircut into an awareness making action to be admired.

The plans for early childhood groups to visit the Library this morning for National Simultaneous Storytime were changed because of the bad weather. Instead this celebration was transferred to Glenshea Kindergarten for the children there to enjoy. Richard Gaby, Community Liaison Officer for the South Waikato District Council, was the reader. The book read around Australia and New Zealand today was Hickory Dickory Dash by Tony Wilson. National Simultaneous Storytime, (NSS), is held annually by the Australian Library and Information Association). Every year an Australian picture book is read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, childcare centers, family homes, bookshops and other places around the country, and aims to promote the value of reading and literacy. This year, New Zealand was invited to participate in the event and it has been promoted by the Library and Information Association of New Zealand. Children from Glenshea Kindergarten gathered on a large mat at 11:00am to see and hear Richard share Hickory Dickory Dash in a lively manner as the story unfolded before them. It was obvious that Richard had read to children many times as seen by the anticipation on the faces of the listeners. The event was also run at the Tokoroa Library at 11am with storyteller Mayor Jenny Shattock. We wonder what they will be reading next year?  

This Concept Plan in a snapshot... The purpose of the Putaruru Concept Plan is to represent community views and guide planning for the town of Putaruru. The plan recognises that there are several agencies who have lead roles in the development of Putaruru, including the South Waikato District Council; our business association, Pride in Putaruru, and the South Waikato Investment Fund. This Concept Plan is intended to guide planning in an integrated and coordinated way. Putaruru is a great place to live. We enjoy wonderful natural surroundings and resources, we have a central location and we have an engaged and caring community. The Blue Springs/Te Waihou Walkway is at our doorstep and we have a number of unique, local businesses leveraging the purity of our surroundings and inspiring a growing interest in artisan food and beverages. Putaruru is affordable relative to other parts of New Zealand making it attractive not only for people to live in, but for business development. Our town is growing, and this Concept Plan is our blueprint for how we intend to direct that growth; activate business development and activity in our town; leverage opportunities arising from our natural assets as well as the increasing visitor and tourism trade. For our town centre areas, this Concept Plan paints a vision for three distinct precincts, and how we see each of these developing. We want to celebrate the unique properties and purpose of each precinct, whether it be services to support our rural businesses, services to attract visitors to stop, or the essential services that our community need day-to-day (see pages 18 to 21 for more detail). In order to manage our growth well, this Concept Plan identifies a number of challenges and opportunities that we’re going to focus our attention on (see pages 9 to 17 for more detail). These include: • Managing the growth in a planned and staged manner. • Creating a more vibrant and appealing town centre to encourage people to stop in Putaruru. • Developing our existing businesses and attracting new businesses. • Managing vehicular traffic and ensuing that upgrades to the State Highway don’t compromise the amenity and operation of our town, but instead enhance it. • Ensuing our young people feel a sense of connectedness; that they have a voice in decisions that affect them and that they have employment pathways locally. • Making good use of our recreation spaces, and ensuring their ongoing viability, and • Ensuring that Te Waihou is protected, but that we also obtain positive economic benefits from the tourism associated with it. We have all the elements in place to make our town more vibrant, to have successful businesses and be a welcoming and fascinating place to visit. Our business community and local council have a good working relationship, and there is a desire to work together. The Concept Plan contains a detailed action plan (pages 24 to 26) and whilst the Plan doesn’t commit each agency to these particular tasks, it provides a solid basis from which we can work together to help us achieve more for our people and our businesses, rather than leave it to chance. This Concept Plan is a draft and we want to hear from you. Help shape the future of Putaruru by completing our online survey www.surveymonkey.com/r/J3S2QHR. Join us 7:00pm on Monday 11 June at The Plaza to discuss the plan in further detail and tell us whether this Plan describes the future Putaruru that you would like to see. A page turning version of the plan is available in the right hand side bar of the HOME page of this website. Download the Putaruru Concept Plan here. Download the Feedback form here.   Mark the public meeting discussion date of the document in your diary now: 11 June, 7:00pm at the Plaza, Putaruru.    

Please note that there is a date change for the Putaruru Concept Plan launch… It is now: Monday June 11th, 7:00pm at The Plaza