My Vision is for Whanganui to be the best it can be! Heritage is our singular point of difference, with many strengths including climate, sports, adventure the arts and culture. We’ve got it all, but need to nurture our youth and help to obtain adequate housing for everyone.

Heritage

Its clear to me that our heritage buildings are our singular unique visual feature that we must preserve. If we lose those buildings we lose our character and we’ll be just another rural district.

We have one of the best preserved CBD’s in New Zealand, and the wonderful landscaping created by local Architect Bruce Dickson is coming into its own. Tourists just love our buildings and are frequently seen snapping away. We can make more of this feature by encouraging our building owners to upgrade and upkeep those frontages.

Building on our built heritage we offer great heritage tourism, both on the Waimarie and other river boats, a genuine cultural experience on Marae up and down the river, our Regional Museum, Sarjeant Gallery and the Alexander Research Library.  Heritage tours, behind the scenes at the Opera House or a wander around our monuments and sculptures tell a story of huge interest to visitors and we are not taking advantage of these existing assets.

Sports and Adventure

Our sporting facilities and easy access to a river and sea are huge attractors for events and adventure sports. We should be seen as the best regional centre for sports and adventure in New Zealand.

Arts

Artists are flocking to Whanganui to live and with our beacon Sarjeant Art Gallery we have the highest number of active artists per head of population compared to any other centre in New Zealand. We are affordable to live and work and many internationally renowned artists are based here. Where there are artists, people follow.

Boutique

We’re small, we have all the natural and built assets found in bigger and more renowned centres and our quality of life is second to none. Our boutique shops thrive on visitors. We must promote this more.

Quality of Life

Our river, beaches, cycleways, airport, hospital  and being the closest NZ city to a skifield give us a huge advantage over other centres to provide quality of living. Not only that, we are an affordable place to live. Despite the common myth that there aren’t jobs, there are great quality jobs. I constantly hear from employers they cant get the right staff. Many of our businesses are in expansion mode and we are crying out for more retailers with the passion and a bit of cash to set up new businesses.

Friendly

We are incredibly friendly. I’ve really noticed how often I say hello to people on the street and get a friendly response. Where else does it happen that complete strangers great each other on a daily basis?