Councillor Comment

Great news for mountain bike park
Council owns a large (approximately 120 hectares) bush block at the base of the Brynderwyn Ranges on Brown Road. This land is part of the farm that was purchased as the wastewater disposal site for the EcoCare project.

The Mangawhai Tracks Charitable Trust – ‘The Trackies’ – led by local community stalwart Gordon Hosking, carries out amazing voluntary work developing a network of walking tracks in the Brynderwyn Ranges and other locations around Mangawhai.

In 2013 the Trust carried out an evaluation of the Browns Road block. What they found was an already established network of tracks ideally suited to the development of a top quality mountain bike park, and further walking tracks with the potential to link to the already established network in the Ranges. The Trust is keen to proceed with helping to develop the block as a community recreation reserve, and presented a detailed proposal to Council in 2014 and again in 2017.

Mountain bike parks in other areas have been proven to provide significant economic benefits by attracting users to the area. This is a unique opportunity because Council already owns the land and there is a proven and established volunteer group ready and willing to add value.

Some readers may recall that in 2018 I started promoting this proposal to try to get things moving. In 2019, with permission still not granted, I filed a notice of motion requesting a report from Council on the development of the land for a walking and mountain biking park. The resultant report advised that an interest in the land had been registered with the Office of Treaty Settlements by Te Runanga o Ngati Whatua. After some delay, a meeting has finally been held on this matter and the Runanga has agreed to support the proposal with the land remaining in Council ownership.

Council staff will soon meet with the Mangawhai Tracks Charitable Trust to start planning the development of the park.

n For Council maintenance or service issues phone 0800 727 059 or email council@kaipara.govt.nz. Any community projects or issues that you would like assistance with contact me on 021 185 8389 or jlarsen@kaipara.govt.nz.

NOTE: Views expressed in this column are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the consensus position of Council.

Relationship of the Bush Block to the Tanekaha tracks and the Brynderwyn walkway with public access in purple. PHOTO/MANGAWHAI TRACKS CHARITABLE TRUST

Typical forest of mid to upper slopes of block. PHOTO/MANGAWHAI TRACKS CHARITABLE TRUST