South Waikato’s biggest tourist attraction will stay open this summer, despite ongoing concerns about public safety and visitor conduct.
In an extraordinary meeting this week, South Waikato District Council voted to keep Te Waihou Walkway Blue Spring open with a short-term management plan, costing $180,000, in place.
The plan will come into effect from December and be in place until March 2027.
The plan includes traffic management, onsite kaitiaki (guardians) from local iwi Ngāti Raukawa, and increased toilet and rubbish facilities.
The council said it agreed to these measures due to the growing popularity of Te Waihou Walkway Blue Spring, safety risks and visitor conduct at the Blue Spring over the summer months.
'We don't want a dead kid'
At the meeting, Putāruru ward councillor Dave Shaw said he had personally witnessed a "near miss" near Te Waihou, which is why he called for a summertime closure of the spring’s carpark.
"Accidents come from nowhere, but they usually in retrospect come from stupidity," Shaw said.
"It only takes one [accident] before somebody dies."
He said council was "behind the 8-ball" with creating and implementing a long-term plan.
"Why don’t we just close it [the carpark]; explain ourselves to the public about the risks involved, and then get working as hard as we can with the community, with Raukawa, on a plan?
"So that we can say to the people, sorry you know! We don’t want a dead kid, so we’re closing it and now we’re working furiously on a proper plan."
$675k funding yet to be received
Previously, fellow councillors Zed Latinovic and Kerry Purdy had asked for the entire springs to be closed and a long-term management plan to be implemented.
Despite the Government allocating $675,000 from the International Visitors Levy for the springs, the council said it had yet to receive the funds.
Elected members were informed that, in order to receive those funds, they would need to deliver a comprehensive plan, including milestone achievements, to the Government.
This means that until an agreement is reached, South Waikato ratepayers are footing the bill for managing the springs.
At the discussion before councillors voted on the matter, Latinovic said he was not happy about this.
"We are being asked to put another $180,000 of ratepayer money into managing a problem that should have been addressed months ago," he said.
This also comes after the council spent $20,000 to manage the springs over Labour Weekend.
"We have to consider whether that is affordable, sustainable and responsible," he said.
'Our ratepayers are not a bottomless pit'
In addition to repeating his past calls for closure and a long-term plan, he wanted an implementation timeline in place.
Tīrau ward councillor Kerry Purdy also reiterated her previous stance, saying she would like to close the springs until a viable long-term plan is in place.
"Our ratepayers are not a bottomless pit for something that gives no return whatsoever," Purdy said.
During the last closure, Purdy said only very few people entered the springs, so another closure is viable without the need for security.
"I do think we could cut down the closure costs with using the items we used for the last one, including the signage," she said.
However, the mayor and Putāruru ward councillor Sandra Wallace said business owners had contacted them, saying they had customers that visited the springs.
The council doesn’t have comprehensive data on how much visitors to the springs spent in the region.
The council collates visitor data by pinging the cell phones of anyone near the springs.
Tokoroa ward councillor Michael Thomas said he didn’t want the springs closed because he knew locals visited them as well.
"I would be interested to know if we could cut tour buses from there during peak season, like we did over [Labour] weekend," Thomas said.
According to the report tabled at the extraordinary meeting, Raukawa would need four weeks to mobilise its kaitiaki on site.
Their duties would include managing visitor flow, directing visitors to available parking and help address safety issues.
They would also gather additional visitor data such as visitor numbers, how they arrived and how long they were onsite.
The kaitiaki will be deployed at the Leslie St carpark during summer peak times.
– Local Democracy Reporting is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
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