Hawera 'shuts down after 5pm'

Hawera's central business district is an uninviting "disgrace" when the sun sets, say business owners and residents.

Sporadic veranda lighting throughout the town's CBD is contributing to dark spots, forcing many residents to avoid the area at night.

A Hawera resident, who would only be identified as Miss Paisley, said without adequate veranda lighting outside shops she felt vulnerable.

"I will not use an ATM in Hawera at night," she said.

"I come home (from work in Eltham) and they haven't left the lights on for me."

She said it shouldn't be that way as the town had a lot to offer but a lack of lighting was damaging to its image.

"It feels like the town shuts down after 5pm.

"They welcome Americarna home but don't leave a light on for me when I come home."

She said someone needed to take ownership of the issue as it would be an easy way to attract more people into the CBD after dark.

The Taranaki Daily News understands the issue first arose when the now defunct Progress Hawera handed control of the lights to the council.

Not all businesses were linked to the scheme run by the business association which connected them to the council's street light circuit.

That created an issue over who was responsible for the lighting and led to many lights being neglected.

Real Sports owner Ross Laurence said Progress Hawera should never had been given the responsibility for the lights and since it was handed over to the council, nothing had been done.

"It's a disgrace that there has been no maintenance to some of the lights. The town needs to have all of these lights going."

South Taranaki District Council roading manager Vincent Lim said the council was responsible for repairing broken lights and paid the power bills for those linked into the system.

"In the last three weeks we have received a number of customer requests about the lighting issue in the area and we are looking into it."

Mr Lim said the council would approach businesses to find out which veranda lights were connected to the council's street light circuit and which were being run privately.

Mr Lim accepted some shop owners may not want the lights out of their control but it was about time the council asked the question.

"Many shopkeepers may not know they are entitled to have council look after the lights as many businesses have changed hands over the years."

He said if they did want council's support there would be a cost for rewiring the lights into the town's main circuit.

Groom owner Quintien Calder said he had been forced to install a light because without one his shop security camera would be useless.

"It would be nice to think people could go for walks on a Friday or Saturday night in a well-lit area," he said.

By LAIRD HARPER - Taranaki Daily News
Last updated 05:00 28/08/2010