In line with the New Zealand Government’s announcement that New Zealand moves to Alert Level Three for Covid-19 today, all non-essential Hurunui District Council facilities and buildings are now closed.

These closures will be reassessed when the alert level is reduced. Until then, the closures encompass facilities such as services centers, libraries, pools and buildings on reserve land (community halls where events may be held).

Essential services will remain in operation – this includes services such as roading, water, sewerage, stormwater, refuse and recycling collection and transfer stations. There will be changes to transfer station opening hours, details will be on our website when these are in effect, but refuse and recycling collections with continue as normal.

The council was prepared to help unite against the virus and slow its spread. We are guided by the New Zealand Government and Ministry of Health (MoH) in our decision making around COVID-19 and have been following the situation closely. We have had a Pandemic Planning Team running and have been supporting and responding to the Covid-19 leading agencies where needed.

We know how important our facilities are to people’s physical and mental health. However, this closure is vital to support the Government’s efforts to “slow the spread”. We are working through how we can continue supporting those who rely on these facilities and improve the self-isolations experience for our communities.

For now, many of our services remain available online and we recommend making use of our library web services at www.hurunui.govt.nz/library.

We do not want our residents to be concerned about finances relating to our facilities. We will not be issuing fines for that overdue library book that cannot be returned right now and we will be issuing refunds for event/hall bookings with us.

Council staff are working from home and doing what is needed to keep things running while maintaining physical distancing in line with government COVID-19 advice.

While Council buildings may be closed we are still here to help. We encourage people to conduct business with us online or over the phone and will be posting regular updates on our website and social media channels regarding how we intend to maintain service levels within these new restrictions.

For the latest information and updates regarding Covid-19, please go to www.covid19.govt.nz.

How can you get in touch with council?

Hurunui District Council Service Centre 
Email: info@hurunui.govt.nz
Phone: 03 3148816

Online Services
www.hurunui.govt.nz

© Scoop Media