16 July 2024

Media: Rotorua Daily Post

Topic: Water supply in Kaingaroa Village

Enquiry

We have been contacted by residents at Kaingaroa Village who say they have been without water since Saturday and there is unlikely to be any until Thursday.

Residents say the have been unable to shower, wash clothes or drink water from the taps.

Can you please answer these questions?

• We are told the outage was planned but residents weren't told until the day before - is this correct?
• How was the outage communicated to residents?
• How widespread is the issue - how many of the village's water users are affected?
• What exactly is the problem and what is being done to fix it?
• Does the council have a temporary solve in the meantime? Is the council supplying water by some other means?
• What is the timeframe to solve the issue?

Due to the high public interest of this issue, we respectfully request these are urgently addressed and would like to have a response by midday.

Response

We informed the Daily Post that the village has a private water supply and they would need to refer their questions to the Kaingaroa Village Council.

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Media: Maori Television

Topic: Puketawhero Park parking issues

Enquiry

I have interviewed Hemana Waaka from the [Aotearoa NZ Maori Rugby League] association and he has expressed his concerns about having to find another venue to play their tournaments leading into the future due to car parking issues around the grounds namely unsafe and inadequate spaces on main road going to airport.

We would like to get a written response if possible.

Response

From Director Infrastructure and Environmental Solutions, Russell George:

The Aotearoa New Zealand Māori Rugby League tournaments are popular events which we’ve been pleased to be able to host in Rotorua.

Most of these age group events have grown over time and like any venue, Puketawhero Park has a maximum capacity which, for some of these events, has now been reached in terms of team numbers. These larger tournaments have exacerbated problems with parking and we have been exploring solutions with the organisers, which we will continue to do.

There has never been formal parking on SH30/Te Ngae Road by Puketawhero Park and people have in the past parked illegally on the verge during events. With changes to SH30 this parking is now fully restricted and so it has created problems in other areas around the park. We’ve opened up as much space for parking near the venue as is available. Our other suggestions for park and ride options and the potential to move the event to Westbrook, where there is more field and parking capacity, were deemed by the organisers to not be viable.

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Media: Tourism Ticker

Topic: new Air BnB city portal

Enquiry

Reporter requested an interview with the Mayor about a news release from Airbnb regarding the launch of its new “City Portal” and also sent the following questions:

Reporter then sent the following questions:

Is Rotorua going to get access to the City Portal?

Will the information about Airbnb rentals be useful for Rotorua?

What will it be used for?

Should other short-term rental websites do the same?

How will the information from Airbnb's City Portal affect the funding given to Rotorua's regional tourism organisation?

Response

Mayor Tapsell responded as follows:

Thank you for your email and for the opportunity of an interview. At this stage I will politely decline. Our Council has very recently agreed to introduce a rating policy for short term accommodation providers. We haven’t had an opportunity to collaborate on this or trial whether or not this Airbnb tool will be useful in regards to implementing this policy. But this will be an operational matter for staff to look in to.

I’ve also been advised that you have sent some further follow-up questions to my office. As this is an operational matter, you would be best to refer those questions to news.rotorua@rotorualc.nz if you wish to receive a response from the organisation.