Heritage Indicators (what we measure)

Overview

Heritage refers to things of historic value, including buildings, possessions, and culture that have been passed on to us by previous generations. There are a number of sites in the district that contain heritage values; including:

• The Te Aroha Character Area, which is a unique array of historic buildings and places.
• Historic buildings and places that are registered under the Historic Places Trust Register and within the District Plan.
• Archaeological sites that contain features such as middens and pa sites.
• Culturally significant sites, including pa sites, urupa (burial site), and marae.

Our Situation

Development in the district can result in pressure to inappropriately use and develop heritage and cultural sites. The Te Aroha Character Area has a special zoning to protect its unique buildings and places. From 2000/01 – 2009/10 there have been five resource consents applied for (and granted) to substantially modify scheduled buildings in the Te Aroha Character Area. These have mainly related to altering the appearance of buildings by the addition of signage or decks. In 2009/10 one consent was issued to replace a structure within the Te Aroha Character area. In 2010/11 the only consent granted for modification was for alterations and repairs to the Band Rotunda in the Te Aroha Domain. The visual appearance of the Band Rotunda was not affected, and the New Zealand Historic Places Trust considered that the improvements to ensure the band rotunda would be safe for public use would also increase its heritage value, as a place of assembly.

Only one new building has been granted consent to be constructed within the Te Aroha Character Area during the period 2000/01 – 2005/06. However two consents were granted in the 2006/07 financial year to develop structures in the Character Area. One structure was a covered outdoor area for a hotel and the other was a garage. There were no consents granted to construct within the Te Aroha Character Area between 2007/08 or 2010/11.

Since 2000/01, six resource consents have been granted to modify listed heritage features outside the Te Aroha Character Area. The most recent consent application was granted in 2008/09. This was for the removal of the Thames Valley Power Board building in Matamata. Council worked through conditions for this consent with the Matamata Historical Society and a condition was imposed requiring that if the building is removed then a monument is to be built in its place.

The number of resource consents applied for and granted involving sites that contain or adjoin a culturally significant site has been very low, between 2003/04 and 2008/09 there have been no applications. In 2009/10 one application was granted. No resource consent applications for this activity have been declined during the 2010/11 period.

There are 85 listed heritage features in the Matamata-Piako District Plan. These include historic buildings such as churches and commercial buildings, as well as monuments, geological formations, and landing sites.

In the 2010/11 year the Te Aroha Power House was added to the heritage schedule. Electric current was provided to the Te Aroha Borough in 1906 through this facility, making the borough the first local body in the Thames Valley to provide this amenity. Water was taken from the Tunakohoia and Omahu Streams, stored in a reservoir above Hamilton Street, and then delivered by pipeline to the power house. The plant became a standby electricity source in 1923 after power from the Arapuni Hydro Dam became available. The listing in the district plan schedule was in response to a 2006 request from the community that the Power House, water reservoir and the Tunakohoia Pipeline at the Hamilton Street site be protected.

There are 80 other culturally significant sites in the district including urupa (Maori Reservation), pa and midden sites, and marae. One of these culturally significant sites (a pa site) was added to the District Plan in the 2006/07 financial year after a plan change was undertaken.

The 2010 Waikato Regional Perception Survey found that 87% of respondents in the Matamata-Piako District were satisfied with the ‘unique or special character of your town’. However, there has been a decrease in the strength of agreement with this statement since the 2007 survey. The Agreement Index for satisfaction with the ‘unique or special character of your town’ was 77.4 in 2007 and down to 74.1 in 2010. The Agreement Index for satisfaction with the ‘Town reflects the diversity of its residents’ was 75.1 in 2007 and down to 71.5 in 2010. (An Agreement Index of 100 would be achieved if all respondents ‘strongly agreed’ with the statements.)