Let’s talk about dogs!
Dog registration
A friendly reminder that annual dog registrations are due and are discounted if paid by 31 July. The Council recommends desexing dogs not intended for breeding, and you can apply for one year’s free registration if you desex your dog and provide evidence from your vet. Financial assistance with desexing is available if you have a community services or gold card. To keep registration costs down you can also apply for a select dog owner classification if you meet the criteria which includes a fenced dog-proof area in your property. For details go to www.waikatodistrict.govt.nz/dogs.
Adopt a dog
It’s a big decision, and dogs are adopted out to responsible new owners only. But if you’re interested, phone one of our Animal Control Officers on 0800 492 452 and watch the Waikato Pound Pups Facebook page www.facebook.com/waikatopoundpups for dogs up for adoption. The Pound Pups page currently advertises dog adoption fees as $300, which include a first parvo vaccination, de-flea and worming, desexing, microchipping and Council registration. For details go to www.waikatodistrict.govt.nz/dogs.
Policy and bylaw consultations closing 29 July
The Keeping of Animals Bylaw sets rules around keeping animals such as poultry, cows and pigs to minimise nuisance and reduce health and safety risks. (Dog control is covered by a separate bylaw.) Following early feedback, the key proposed changes are to:
Define rural, lifestyle and urban areas to match the Proposed District Plan zones but require all properties at or below 1,500 sq m (0.15 hectares) to classify as urban.
Have no further rules for cats – cats are not required to be confined to owners’ properties.
Remove the rule requiring poultry houses to be 10m from any dwelling, factory or building.
Reduce beehive setbacks for lifestyle and rural areas.
Submissions close on 29 July on the new Bylaw as well as on new draft policies on Gambling Venues and Road Closures for Motor Sports Events. To have your say, go to the Council’s website at www.waikatodistrict.govt.nz/say-it.
Library services
Free membership - Library membership is free for anyone living in Waikato District and it provides more services than you might realise. You can join online or through any Waikato District library, including the Tamahere Hub which offers a book pick-up and drop-off service. Library membership gives you access to all sorts of online resources including eBooks and eNewspapers, movie and documentary streaming, online learning and more. The Council library service also hosts a Seed Library, and holds collections of DVDs, and a range of kits for borrowing from music kits to tool kits.
Free access to City and regional libraries - Waikato district residents have free access to libraries in Waipa (Cambridge and Te Awamutu) and Hauraki (Ngaatea, Paeroa and Waihi). Under an agreement with Hamilton City Council, Waikato district residents living near Hamilton can also join Hamilton City libraries for free by taking personal ID and proof of address to any City library. The area covered by this agreement includes all of Tamahere-Woodlands Ward including Eureka, Gordonton, Matangi, Newstead, Puketaha, Tamahere, Tauwhare and Tauwhare Pa. Find out more at www.waikatodistrict.govt.nz/libraries.
Help reduce waste
Your Councillors recently visited the Green Gorilla recycling facility in Huntly where recycling from most of the southern parts of Waikato District, including the Tamahere-Woodlands Ward, is taken for sorting. Green Gorilla provides both the kerbside rubbish and recycling services for this area and is the district’s largest waste contractor providing 1.8 million kerbside collections per year, or 36,000+ pick-ups weekly.
Your Council is a very small player in a global recycling market so we must work hard to keep these materials out of our landfills. Only bales of single recyclable materials with very low (under 4%) contamination can be sent overseas for processing, so Green Gorilla staff sort recyclables on a conveyor belt by hand to maintain the quality necessary. Find out more about the Council's rubbish and recycling services at www.waikatodistrict.govt.nz/rubbish.
You can help the effort - Please keep to the recycling guidelines:
Wash all items and remove all lids (these are often different plastic material to the bottle/jar and can get stuck in the recycling machinery)
Put glass in one crate, and tins, cans and plastics (labelled 1,2 and 5 only) in the other
Keep cardboard and paper no larger than 50cm all round and place it outside your crate.
Illegal dumping - This is a huge problem, averaging two complaints every day, costing money and ruining our environment. Please keep reporting it so that we know to clean it up. Go to the Council website www.waikatodistrict.govt.nz/report-it or use the Antenno app on your cellphone.
Contact your Tamahere-Woodlands Councillors:
Crystal Beavis, mob 0275 957 927, email
Mike Keir, mob 027 449 3012, email
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