About us
The Wainuiomata Rural Community Association was formed some 25 to 30 years ago when Wainuiomata was part of the Hutt County Council, to fight what was seen as excessively high rates paid by rural residents for virtually no services.
The first committee meeting was held at the Parklands Motel (at a cost of $50 for the venue) and is believed to have consisted of the following members:
Representing Moores Valley:
Bob Smythe (President)
Wayne Wootton
David Innes*
Shirley McGruer
Mike Phillips
Representing Coast Road:
Peter Thomas
Norman Cobb
Walter Rozing
Bruce Flett
David Lewis*
* David Innes and David Lewis have continued their long service to our rural community as current Committee members.
At that time, members paid a yearly fee to belong to the Association.
When Wainuiomata became part of Hutt City, a much fairer rating system for rural residents was put in place and the Association eventually went into recess. Funds held at the time by the original committee have been made available to the new committee.
WRCA was revived again in 2012 to fight a proposed rate increase of some 88% for rural residents in return for no additional services or benefits. The first meeting was very well attended and after lobbying Hutt City Council, the Association achieved partial success in having the proposed rural rate increase reduced to 50%.
Since then, the WRCA committee has, and continues to work hard on behalf of its members. Some of the projects currently underway are:
• Representing rural Wainuiomata in submissions on the draft Greater Wellington Regional Council Natural Resources Plan and the Resource Management Amendment Bill. WRCA has had significant input into both issues and successfully lobbied for changes, particularly in the areas of stock in waterways and river classification.
• Introduction of security cameras in both Moores Valley and Coast Roads to help protect rural residents against criminal activity by identifying vehicles entering and exiting those areas.
• Improved rural communications. WRCA is working with telecommunications companies and Hutt City Council to help achieve both adequate broadband access and mobile phone service. It successfully partnered with Hutt City Council in a submission bid for funding from the Rural Broadband Initiative/Mobile Blackspot Fund and is currently awaiting the outcome of that process.
• A local rural civil defence plan. This is in the early stages of development.
• A stakeholder in the Wainuiomata Development Plan to help bridge the gap between rural and urban communities, and participate in the development of Wainuiomata as a whole.
• Building closer working relationships with Government departments, Local Authorities such as GWRC, HCC and other groups involved in rural activities.
Membership of the Association is free, and currently stands at 119 members. The committee meets the 2nd Tuesday of each month (except January) and will be holding its next AGM in April 2016.
Members are warmly invited to attend committee meetings.
Updated 10/2/2016