The Waitaki District Council has called for the public to nominate parts of the district’s history for protection in the district plan.
The plan, now under review, offers protection for more than 200 named historic items, from the Waitaki Boys High School Hall of Memories to the Pleasant Valley Oaks, near Palmerston. In the Oamaru Public Gardens, the plan protects the Wonderland Statue, Craig Fountain, the Japanese Red Bridge, display house, Elderslie Gazebo and the band rotunda.
Council planning manager Hamish Barrell said nomination of an item did not guarantee it would be included in the plan, but priority would be given to nominations that identified the values associated with a place and the community to which it was significant "and are supported by relevant background information".
"Our heritage not only helps us gain an understanding of our past and shapes our identity, but it has also come to represent an important part of our brand and economic success that brings in tourists from around the world," he said.
When the Heritage New Zealand listing of the Oamaru Historic Area was expanded to include much of the town’s central business district, taking in parts of Harbour, Tyne, Itchen, Wansbeck, Tees, Severn, Meek, Medway, Coquet, Wear and Thames Sts, Cr Peter Garvan said it was "crucial" that the council included the area in its district plan.
Heritage New Zealand Otago Southland area manager Jonathan Howard, of Dunedin, told the Otago Daily Times last year, before the historic area’s expansion was approved, inclusion on Heritage New Zealand’s list did not impose any regulation on property owners, but rather "protection comes about when local authorities schedule places or areas in their district plans under the Resource Management Act 1991".
Any person or organisation could nominate an item for evaluation before midnight December 20, a council statement said.
