Long-awaited library under way

Tairua community’s patience rewarded.



Foundations are about to be laid for what the Tairua community hopes will become the heart of the community – a new library in the centre of town.



Watts and Hughes Construction officially began work this week on the 905sq m site where a library will be built along with associated car parking off Manaia Rd in Tairua. It replaces the current library, which was a disused prefab classroom sourced from Hamilton Polytechnic and placed on-site next to the Tairua Hall in 1987. It has no toilets or kitchen facilities for volunteers.



“This is a huge milestone for Tairua,” says Tairua-Pauanui Community Board Chairman and Thames-Coromandel District Councillor Noel Hewlett. “Libraries are an integral part of a community. They become the educational arm of the area, with school programmes and history programmes, and are a meeting place for everyone.



“It’s not just a place to store books, it becomes a little hub. The library has been a long-term goal for this community and reflects a lot of work by volunteers of the Tairua Library Society. To see the work finally under way is great.”



The Tairua library is being funded locally from reserves and from development contributions. Its creation will not come at a cost to any ratepayers outside of the local area.



The 236 sq m building will include a meeting room, children’s reading area, computer room, staff work room, toilets and a kitchen.



Tairua-Pauanui Area Manager Sam Marshall says the existing service lane alongside the library site will be widened to 6m to allow cars to easily enter the car park to the rear of the new building. Meanwhile the future of the campground next door to the library will be considered by the community board including proposals for some public car parking, extension of the service lane through to Tokoroa Road and green spaces. The present campground lease arrangement expires in April.