Email your elected members at councillors@taupo.govt.nz For more information call 07 376 0899 or go to www.taupo.govt.nz

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For more information on Taupö District events visit www.GreatLakeTaupo.com

Until 14 Sep Never a Week Goes By – WWI exhibition, Taupō Museum

Until 14 Sep Welcome to my World – Dean Stebbing exhibition, Taupō Museum

25 Aug Council meeting, Council Chamber, Taupō29 Aug Harcourts Hound Day, Owen Delany Park4 Sep Fink About It – The Laughing Samoans,

Great Lake Centre

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Do you know a young person who deserves recognition for their hard work and talent? Nominate them for the Taupō District Youth Awards!

There is one week left to nominate youth living in the Taupō District and attending school in years seven to 13.

They are eligible for nomination in five categories – arts, academic, sports, innovation and resilience. The categories are split into three age groups: years 7-8, years 9-11 and years 12-13.

A winner and runner-up will be chosen for each of these age groups. There is an award for leadership for each age group and an award for overall all-rounder, with the winners of these chosen from the other five categories.

Nominations are open until next Friday, August 28 and can be filled out online at www.taupo.govt.nz.

One week left for Youth Award nominations

CBD intersection makeover progressing wellNoticed all the activity going on at the intersection of Ruapehu and Tamamutu streets? It’s getting a makeover and will be sporting a fresh new look in a few weeks’ time.

We are remodelling the gardens on the four corners of the intersection with lower, less intrusive gardens and modern planter boxes to improve both the intersection's aesthetics and pedestrian

and motorist visibility. Community safety will also be improved with better visibility for CCTV cameras monitoring the town centre.

We’re also aligning crossing points on each side of the road and widening some footpaths where we can to improve mobility access and ease of use for those with prams.

Contractor TR Construction is doing the majority of the work, with their efforts focussed on the Taupō Primary School and Pak'n Save corners this week.

Next week the garden on the Noel Leeming corner will be demolished by our staff to make way for the contractors to construct the new gardens.

Once we have completed this intersection in a few weeks we will be doing the same for the intersections of Gascoigne and Tamamutu streets and Tongariro and Tamamutu streets.

We will not be touching the roundabouts as we think they are pretty spectacular as they are, and are concentrating the work on the four corners of each intersection.

We would like to thank the community for their patience while we carry out this work. We are doing our best to keep disruption to a minimum and appreciate your support!

What's on

There has been plenty of great news for the Taupō District

this week, with our economy looking in good shape and new figures released to back it up.

I attended the gala evening for the Central Pleateau Registered Master Builder’s House of the Year Awards last weekend and the mood and outlook was really positive.

It’s no wonder really – as our district’s top building companies were recognised, we were also told about the huge amount of building going on. This year so far, there has been $61 million worth of new residential building in our district – a staggering figure for an area with a relatively small population.

I have spent some time recently chatting with real estate agents and anecdotally it’s becoming apparent that there is a desire from Aucklanders to move to our district. Many of the agents reported an increase in inquiries about Taupō property by Aucklanders and the more we can attract, the better.

It’s great people want to build and move here – it’s fantastic news for us and our economy.

The other good news for us is the latest figures released by Enterprise Great Lake Taupō (EGLT) last week that show the district’s job market has exceeded previous pre-recession figures.

Total employment is now sitting at 18,500 jobs – up from 17,900 in 2014. This figure hasn’t gone above 18,000 since 2008, so this is incredibly encouraging.

EGLT says the job growth is coming from an increase in dairying, agriculture, forestry and logging, manufacturing and energy jobs, which are some of our key sectors.

No doubt this number will continue to grow with two large format retail stores about to open in Taupō with Smiths City in the old Briscoes building on Gascoigne Street and Lincraft craft and fabric store at Totara Point.

Our economy is humming along nicely and all the development that’s been going on in our district is flowing down into the job market. Even though it’s the middle of winter, people are still out there building and expanding – just the type of place we all want to live, work and play in.

Buzzing about building

Mayor David Trewavas • dtrewavas@taupo.govt.nz

Thinking about going for a hit on one of our local reserves to get ready for summer? You need to take your golfing game to a proper golf course.

Unfortunately we have had a few complaints lately about golfers hitting balls on reserves, particularly in the Wharewaka area.

This seems to happen seasonally as many recreational golfers try to get some practise in for the season ahead, but it’s quite dangerous for those using the reserve. A golf ball moving at speed can cause serious damage.

We have a number of golf courses in our district where you can practise your swing in a safe, controlled environment, so please use them! Let’s keep our community safe – the reserves are there for us all to enjoy.

The Royal New Zealand Navy Band is returning to Taupō to give another powerful performance at the Great Lake Centre next month.

The band is known for its exciting and entertaining shows, and the concert ‘Inspiration’ on Monday, September 21 will be no exception.

The Navy Band is made up of 30 of New Zealand’s finest musicians including wind, brass and percussion players, and is one of the best military bands in the country.

Taupō adopted the band with a formal charter in 2003 and it has returned annually since then.

The show starts at 7.30pm and tickets are $25 plus booking fee at Ticketek.

Navy band performs

Still to register your dog for the year? Registrations for all dogs over three months were due July 1.

Registering dogs helps us keep track of the dogs in our district and it’s an easy process. If you signed up to receive your registration forms online, you will have received them by email. Otherwise, your forms would have been posted to you. If you didn’t receive them, please contact us on 07 376 0899.

If you’re having difficulties registering your dog or want to discuss your options, let us know. Visit www.taupo.govt.nz or visit one of our offices for more information.

Dog registrations now overdue

Golf on reserves putting us in danger