Viewpoint – Showground meeting grounds

It is that time of year, folks – Waitangi Day and Auckland Anniversary weekend are over, and now the Warkworth A&P Lifestyle Show approaches. I’m really looking forward to reconnecting with a large number of people, as always, as locals invariably come to chat with me at my converted horse float about what’s going on in the world of politics.

The stands and stalls at A&P shows have evolved over the years, with an ever-larger number of community groups and NGOs making themselves available. And, of course, businesses of every kind take the opportunity to tout their wares. This is all positive, but I hope we never completely lose the agricultural feel of these annual get-togethers. Livestock and other touchstones of rural life will always be at the heart of these gatherings.

It is worth considering how much change has taken place outside the gates of the district’s showgrounds over the years, too. In the immediate vicinity of the Warkworth Show venue, a couple of developments, in particular, stand out since we gathered last year – the Matakana link road and our new stretch of Puhoi to Warkworth motorway have been open for a number of months.

These are great examples of modern, effective engineering designed for safe transportation – at potentially speeds of up to 110km in the case of the motorway, albeit with an official speed limit of 100km currently, I hasten to add. We need more of the same, basically, so please know that I will be advocating for the motorway to extend still further north (Warkworth to Te Hana) once the national infrastructure pipeline allows.

I was reminded of this recently, as I was making a couple of road trips to Northland in the lead up to Waitangi Day. Clearly, areas along SH1 like Warkworth and Wellsford have traditionally relied on passing traffic to stop for fuel (meaning food and drink, as well as petrol) as a contributor to the local economy.

For this reason, establishing a bypass can be a mixed blessing for townships that have uncomfortably high volumes of traffic.

We should back such great areas as Warkworth and Wellsford to welcome enthusiastic visitors to sample their charms, therefore, as destinations in their own right. The question then becomes what activities we can encourage, by making them easier and more affordable for communities and businesses to offer.

Government has a role to play in enabling such investment and we can all get involved promoting our areas as destinations for domestic and overseas tourists. It’s something to think about as we drive to and from the Warkworth Show this year.

I am looking forward to seeing you there!