MEDIA RELEASE

Date: 9 November, 2006

Nelson Park referendum returns a positive result

Hastings District Council’s public referendum to decide the future of Nelson Park has returned a yes in its preliminary result, meaning the Council can now move forward with its work on the financial model of its Nelson Park proposal. The final result will be announced on Monday, 13 November.

When the voting closed at noon today 23,986 votes had been returned: 47.84% of total electors. 61.91% voted for the proposal and 37.81% against. There are 543 votes yet to be processed.

Mayor Lawrence Yule believes the result is a positive move forward for Hastings.

“We’ve still got a lot of hard work to do on the Nelson Park project but the public’s decision to go in this direction means we are now moving forward with their support and approval,” he said.

Currently, Nelson Park is home to an athletics track and associated facilities. It is located in central Hastings.

Through the referendum process, the Council asked electors to vote for or against a proposal to sell the park for large format retail development and use the resulting funds to move the athletics track to a new site on Percival Road.

The proposal also states an additional $3million will be used to purchase and develop small green spaces within Hastings’ central business district.

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www.hastingsdc.govt.nz

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Hastings District Council

PROVISIONAL RESULT OF NELSON PARK REFERENDUM

Poll to Decide on the Proposal to sell Nelson Park for large format retail development, re-establishment of the athletics track and facilities and creation of CBD public open space

The Provisional Result of the Nelson Park Referendum as at 2.00 pm on Thursday 9th November 2006 is as follows.

Votes cast FOR the Proposal 14,514 61.91%

Votes cast AGAINST the Proposal 8,863 37.81%

Informal voting documents 0
Blank voting documents 66 0.28%

There are 543 ordinary votes yet to be processed.

There are 55 special votes to be processed.

The Voting Return Percentage of ordinary votes was 47.84% being 23,986 voting documents.

The majority of those electors who voted in the poll voted FOR the proposal to sell Nelson Park.

The preliminary result is expected later today when the remaining ordinary votes have been processed.

The official result is expected to be declared on Friday 10th November or Monday 13th November 2006 after all special votes have been processed.

Peter Woodroffe
Electoral Officer
Hastings District Council

ENDS

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