Tinwald Reserve Board has big plans lined up for its domain and to assist with them two new members have taken up the mantle, chair Leen Braam says.
The pair had governance experience and were a welcome addition to the board in charge of overseeing the vast areas of the domain grounds, he said.
It includes a children’s playground, disc golf course, basketball and tennis courts, duck pond, arboretum, open grass areas with public barbecues.
Braam said the reserve board was working on developing the gravel-filled site of the former pool and making the space into a family, friendly fun zone.
‘‘We are wanting to make the area family friendly, inviting and usable,’’ Braam said.
Plans include a giant cushion for jumping in the area once occupied by the large pool.
‘‘The area will be great and safe for families with the gate and fenced area.
‘‘We have retained the buildings that were on site.’’
‘‘We had to fill the pool in from a safety perspective and as responsible custodians of the area,’’ Braam said.
Early this year the reserve board will be taking their plans to council and seeking funding to move on to the next stage of plans for the area.
Braam said recently there had been some areas where maintenance had not been kept to standard.
He spent about seven hours tidying up the area, as well as the area inside the fence at the main gate.
He collected a range of items discarded over the fence and removed several loads of green waste and rubbish.
‘‘While the district council fund some maintenance at the Tinwald Domain, the Ashburton Domain has a much larger budget for maintenance than the Tinwald one, hence why some of board spend time volunteering to maintain it,’’ Braam said.
But since then the board and district council’s open spaces and parks staff had set a plan for areas of responsibility.
It would help with ongoing maintenance of the domain area, including the event space and former camping ground.
Last month, keyboard warriors took to social media to voice concerns over the unkept front entrance to the domain, which led to a tirade of comments.
The Ashburton Courier sought the number of Snap, Send, Solve messages or other correspondence received by council regarding the overgrown area, but there had been none.
Prior to the new agreement, district council group manager community and open spaces Toni Durham said the area of concern was managed by the reserve board, and maintained as and when required.
