{"id":321386,"date":"2026-03-09T22:31:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T22:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/321386\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T22:31:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T22:31:09","slug":"kainga-ora-residents-unhappy-with-planned-development-in-aramoho-whanganui","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/321386\/","title":{"rendered":"K\u0101inga Ora: Residents unhappy with planned development in Aramoho, Whanganui"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fredrikse said while most people surveyed were not completely opposed to the development<\/a>, there were concerns about drainage, parking, possible anti-social behaviour and the number of homes on the site.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople felt like five or six [homes] would integrate well into the current situation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that time, K\u0101inga Ora felt they didn\u2019t need to consult which contradicts their mission statement of working alongside communities for sustainability and inclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whanganui MP Carl Bates said he shared constituents\u2019 concerns with K\u0101inga Ora last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was determined the project wasn\u2019t going ahead because it didn\u2019t meet K\u0101inga Ora\u2019s financial viability,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen changes were made, it was reassessed and announced in February that it met financial criteria<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cConcerns were raised again and, again, we shared them with K\u0101inga Ora earlier this month.\u201d<\/p>\n

K\u0101inga Ora\u2019s decisions on \u201cwhere they build and what they build\u201d were operational and he was not involved in that process, he said.<\/p>\n

The Chronicle reported last August<\/a> 138 proposed K\u0101inga Ora homes in Whanganui had been cut to seven, although other options were being considered for the sites.<\/p>\n

\"WhanganuiWhanganui MP Carl Bates says he has shared residents’ concerns with K\u0101inga Ora.<\/p>\n

K\u0101inga Ora now plans to build eight two-bedroom homes and two four-bedroom homes at Delhi Ave.<\/p>\n

Delhi Ave resident Sarah Tyler said she hoped families would move into the new houses.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, anyone who wants to use it as a base to build a better life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe if it were rent-to-buy, people would have a vested interest in looking after their house and being part of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

K\u0101inga Ora Taranaki, Manawat\u016b and Whanganui acting regional director Sarah Willson said it began engaging with the community about plans for Delhi Ave in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe received a range of feedback through in\u2011person conversations, emails and phone calls,” she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince then, we\u2019ve reviewed our social housing pipeline to ensure we\u2019re getting the best value for money from our projects and we\u2019re delivering new houses in the areas of greatest need. <\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing this review, we have decided to progress with this development.\u201d<\/p>\n

K\u0101inga Ora had communicated that update recently via an online interactive map and a letter drop to surrounding residents, Willson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome concerns the community raised with us earlier included the lot size, car parking and flood mitigation, which have been assessed and approved as part of Whanganui District Council\u2019s resource consent process. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis development meets all council planning requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n

A K\u0101inga Ora spokesperson said 60 letters were delivered on February 13 to surrounding residents, which covered \u201ca wide area around the development\u201d.<\/p>\n

Fredrickse said she had not received the letter and learned about the consent applications in the Chronicle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be accused of being \u2018nimbys\u2019 [not in my backyard] but we are not. We are not against social housing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHousing is absolutely needed but the integrity of the street also needs to be respected.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll we are asking for is a bit of formal consultation with all the parties involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

K\u0101inga Ora aims to complete the Delhi Ave project, which has a budget of about $6.24 million, next year.<\/p>\n

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily Whanganui District Council.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fredrikse said while most people surveyed were not completely opposed to the development, there were concerns about drainage,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[134472,170,36426,3339,78,23543,46401,111,43,139,69,23544,26346,530,1072,544,17294,48612,1883,102],"class_list":{"0":"post-321386","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-aramoho","9":"tag-development","10":"tag-drawn","11":"tag-housing","12":"tag-in","13":"tag-kinga","14":"tag-neighbouring","15":"tag-new-zealand","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-newzealand","18":"tag-nz","19":"tag-ora","20":"tag-planned","21":"tag-residents","22":"tag-social","23":"tag-some","24":"tag-suburb","25":"tag-unhappy","26":"tag-whanganui","27":"tag-with"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}