Raglan 23

To be a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit:

BADDELEY, Mr John Clinton (Clint)

For services to local government and the community

Mr Clint Baddeley has served the Waikato region in a variety of capacities over the last 50 years.

Mr Baddeley was the Convenor of the Council of Trade Unions in the Waikato region for 10 years, becoming involved with some of New Zealand’s largest manufacturing and dairy companies. He has served on a variety of boards, including the national board of Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics New Zealand from 2005 to 2008, and the board of WorldSkills New Zealand from 2015 to 2018. He chaired the Building and Assets Committee of the Waikato Institute of Technology for nine years, overseeing a $100 million campus redevelopment.

He was Deputy Mayor of the Waikato District Council from 2007 to 2010 and represented Raglan on the Council from 2004 to 2017. He chaired the Council’s Strategy and Finance Committee for six years and chaired a committee formed between Hamilton City Council and Waikato District Council to oversee boundary changes.

He has been Chair of the Waikato Community Trust. Mr Baddeley has been a volunteer radio broadcaster for Raglan Community Radio for more than 20 years, co-established the Raglan junior football league, and was a driver for the Raglan Ambulance for five years.

Waikato District Council recently announced that the Raglan Wharf would be repaired with a $2.5 million Government Grant.

As it is only nine years since WDC contractors carried out a complete repair and refurbishment of the wharf, Raglan 23 asked them on 25th May why further repairs were necessary now:

After the 2011 repair work on Raglan Wharf costing $635,096 , WDC said, “The Raglan Wharf is now as strong as it was when it was built in 1916. Repairs to the underlying wharf structure were completed last week on time and below the original budget. The contractor, HEB Structures have completed the work to a very high standard and performed well given the change in scope and some very challenging tidal conditions.”
Why is it necessary to repair the wharf structure again, just 9 years after the previous repair?

2011 Media release by Waikato District Council

While the Council has acknowledged receiving the query they have not yet answered it.

We also asked them: “Does this (doing the work with the Government grant) mean that income from the Raglan Harbour reserve estate will be able to used on another harbour project?” Each year the Council receives a substantial income from property leases of its Harbour Reserve Estate (the area bounded by Bow Street, Wainui Road and the Opotoru Estuary). This income can only be spent on expenses and projects related to the Whaingaroa Harbour. In the past the money has funded new bar crossing beacons, the 2011 wharf repairs and the footbridge replacement.

The Council said:

The report to the Raglan Community Board in February says “Council resolved to bring forward $630,000 from the Raglan Harbour Reserve and Raglan Harbour fund for replacement of existing assets, the total available for the remainder of the current LTP period, as a contribution towards the suite of works.”

This money from the Raglan Harbour Reserve and Raglan Harbour fund will be added to the $2.5m from the Provincial Growth Fund for the project.

WDC spokesperson

Waikato Regional Council news

Waikato Regional Council is set to rollout the biggest changes to its bus network for several years, with significant timetable and route improvements and a new ticketing system.

The rollout of the new ticketing system in the next two months was endorsed at a recent regional connections committee meeting and adopted at Thursday’s Waikato Regional Council meeting.

“The Bee Card will replace the BUSIT card in July, providing passengers with the ability – for the first time in the Waikato – to tag on-tag off and check and top-up their card balances online. It will make bus travel smarter and easier,” she said.

Installations of the new ticketing system on board buses is expected to occur over the next month. The Bee Card will be available in June from a dedicated website (beecard.co.nz), or by calling the BUSIT Infoline or picking one up from the BUSIT counter inside the Transport Centre. The cards will need to be registered.

Super Gold card holders will need to register and start using the Bee Card.

Until the new ticketing system is available, travel on the BUSIT network will remain free.

“Passengers will then see fare prices initially cut from what they are normally while the Bee Card system gets up and running. This will allow time to register concessions because it requires face-to-face interaction with some customers,” Cr Strange said.

Meanwhile, most of the bus timetables in Hamilton will have minor changes from Monday, 8 June, to ensure drivers are getting adequate breaks.

“Regional council staff have worked closely with Go Bus to rework some of our timetables to fit the new employment legislation requiring drivers to have a break at least every two hours,” Cr Strange said.

“The changes to our services have been made following consultation with passengers and the wider public last year. Where the proposals weren’t going to work for residents we generally adjusted what we were planning to do,” she said.

Angela O’Leary, Hamilton city councillor and deputy chair of the regional connections committee, said the welcome introduction of the Bee Card coincides with changes to Hamilton bus routes which reflect the city’s growth.

“Making public transport easier to use and more responsive to the changing needs of our communities is really important. These changes will make our city easier to get around and it’s great to see feedback from passengers and other residents reflected in the new services,” Cr O’Leary said.

There are six Hamilton routes with significant changes. This includes the current 26 Bremworth Temple View. The route will be split into two branches – one branch will run from Temple View to town, the other from Bremworth to town..

Because of this, Temple View residents will experience a much quicker trip into the CBD – around 5-10 minutes faster than the current routes via Bremworth and Dinsdale.

Additional early morning and late evening trips have been added for both areas and the new Route 19 will operate on Sundays and public holidays.

The terminus for 8 Frankton will change to Rotokauri Rd near Kawariki Drive in the Rotokauri Rise area. All trips will start and end here providing a frequent bus service to this fast-growing residential area.

Similarly, all services for the 1 Pukete will now start and end at Maui Street, delivering better connections to this growing commercial and industrial zone.

The council is combining the 17 Hamilton East Uni and 29 Hamilton Gardens bus routes to provide a better overall service to the Hamilton Gardens, Hamilton East and University areas.

Between 9:32am and 1:32pm weekdays, the service will travel from town to the university via the Hamilton Gardens.

However, on weekends and public holidays the service will only travel to the Hamilton Gardens and cemetery. The new timetable includes later afternoon trips to and from the Hamilton Gardens, allowing bus users to spend more time at the popular attraction.

The Rototuna Circular route will change to better serve the northern end of Flagstaff near Te Ao Mārama School and the new housing and retail areas nearby. Between 9.30am and 2.30pm weekday services will be reduced from half hourly to hourly. The last trips of the day will no longer operate.

The regional connections committee comprises Waikato regional and Hamilton city councillors, supported by an access and mobility and Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency representative.