Author: John Freer
By John Freer The primary asset promoting tourism to the region has been lost and may not be restored. For the regional tourism organisation, Destination Hauraki Coromandel, a major setback this week in that its website domain, the coromandel dot com, has been compromised and the website cloned. A temporary website domain, hauraki coromandel dot com […]
By John Freer Fairness and equity won over public feedback when Thames Coromandel District Councillors today agreed to change the district’s rating system. The potential change from a land valuation system to capital values, brought about some lively debate for one and half hours before a 6/4 voting margin decided the issue. Council had undergone […]
In the space of a month adopted Waihi son, Ryan Fox, has written himself into NZ golfing immortality. Winning yesterday’s Canadian Open on the US PGA Tour, Ryan in less than a month, has won two titles. Sir Bob Charles and Dame Lydia Ko, until yesterday, were the only two New Zealanders with multi-championship wins. […]
By John Freer Repairing what he describes as isolation between its community and district council is a key objective of Thames Coromandel Mayoral candidate Peter Revell. In an interview about his campaign for the coming local government elections, Peter said the isolation was causing frustration for residents, community boards and ratepayer groups. To him there […]
By John Freer A novel idea to overcome the potential flooding threat to Thames while providing the town with what could be considered a very acceptable recreational resource. Two locals, one being a retired consulting civil and structural engineer, the other having a background in mechanical and hydraulic engineering, have put forward the idea of […]
CFM can confirm that the working relationship between Thames-Coromandel Mayor Len Salt and the Council’s Chief Executive, Aileen Lawrie, has broken down, with communication between the pair reportedly limited to formal meetings or when others are present. Sources both inside and outside Thames-Coromandel District Council have confirmed the deteriorating dynamic, with representatives from other councils […]
By John Freer A slow response from Hauraki district residents in having a say on their proposed Local Waters Done Well management options. The opportunity for feedback closes this Friday with Mayor Toby Adams encouraging people to express an opinion. He said while the matter was extremely complex it was one of the biggest decisions […]
The growth, impact and success of Coromandel Peninsula’s Artbeat festival has been disclosed with over 30,000 people attending last year’s event. In only its second year Artbeat grew from 68 events to 91 last year. Also disclosed in the 2024 Festival impact report which is being released this week by Creative Coromandel, over 9000 people […]
By John Freer A new focus on tourism marketing for the district along with new tourism product development are two of the points which have this week come out of the first meeting by board members of Destination Hauraki Coromandel. Under the chairmanship of Jason Hill, the board has held its first meeting along with […]
By John Freer It was labelled as a lolly scramble by one councillor, and from a bystander’s observation, a debacle may have been a more apt description – this when it came to handing out Thames Coromandel event development funding yesterday. The Thames Coromandel District has a policy where its district fund is intended to […]
