A new 165ha regional park on the shores of Lake Tekapo has received a double boost over the past week with a $50,000 grant and rates funding from Environment Canterbury (ECan).
The grant has come from the Meridian Energy Ltd Waitaki community fund, while ECan is proposing to fund the park by a mix of a 60% rate over the Canterbury region and a 40% targeted fix rate over the Timaru and Mackenzie districts from next financial year.
The grant from the Meridian fund was one of 13 worth more than $140,000 made by an advisory panel from a $1 million pool distributed over three years.
Lake Tekapo Recreational Park Incorporated received the largest contribution to purchase the equipment required for the upkeep of the planned regional park.
The organisation will work with ECan to establish the park, with support from the Mackenzie District Council.
The park will feature mountain biking tracks, walking and running tracks, picnic areas and other recreational facilities, while also developing the conservation values of the area.
The grant will enable the Lake Tekapo Recreational Park to purchase a shed, tractor, trailer and other tools vital to the maintenance of the park.
Spokesman Murray Cox said that would enable the group to clear some of the land and create tracks for walking and cycling.
The Lake Tekapo Recreational Park hoped to be able to start work early in the new year and have some tracks ready in the next couple of years, completing other recreational facilities within 10 years.
Meridian's strategic relations adviser and chairman of the fund Mark France said the recreational park would be a fantastic facility that would provide locals and visitors with a place to enjoy the beautiful scenery that the area had to offer.
ECan's proposal to introduce a rate to fund the park was approved this week, but will be open to public submissions as part of its 2009-19 long-term council community plan (LTCCP).
There had always been funding from ECan through the general rate for the park, which was a soil conservation area, and that would not change, ECan South Canterbury councillor Bronwen Murray said.
Other Meridian Waitaki community fund grants were. - Waitaki St John Ambulance area committee $20,000 for an events emergency support caravan; Waitaki Valley farmers market $16,330 for gazebos; Upper Waitaki Pioneer Museum and Art Gallery $12,495 for a climate-controlled heat pump; Kurow Freemasons $10,000 to upgrade its historic Kurow building; South Canterbury Hospice $7000 to purchase a hospice bed for the Mackenzie district; Twizel Community Care Trust $8160 to provide a Twizel youth worker; Twizel Indoor Bowling Club $5000 for a heat pump; High Country Health Ltd $3500 for a defibrillator and baby scales; Aoraki Mt Cook Playgroup $2685 for new equipment; Haldon Correspondence Unit parent committee $2680 for a new laser printer and monitors; Waitaki Valley Medical Trust $2500 to assist with a project to address learning disabilities in children; Kurow Heritage and Information centre $2000 for an LCD screen and DVD players.
