People’s safety is being put at risk in order to protect old trees that native bats may or may not roost in, a Tamahere resident says.

John Simmons believes about 30 trees in the Tamahere Reserve are leaning perilously over the bordering Tauwhare Rd.

“I’ve been looking at these trees for some time and they are getting pretty hazardous,” he said.

The Tamahere Reserve, partially restored through thousands of hours of volunteer toil, has become ground zero in a stoush between environmentalists and the Department of Conservation.

At the heart of the increasingly bitter dispute – which has triggered countless meetings and threats of legal action – is the country’s native nocturnal flyer, the long-tailed bat.

For the past eight years, Bill Hodgson and volunteers have been restoring the Tamahere Reserve, on Tauwhare Rd.

Drivers should be prepared to lower their speed on many Tamahere and Matangi roads from this month as well as elsewhere around the Waikato.

Lower speed numbers will be going up on many speed limit signs around the district progressively over this month. Check the list for your road.

The new speed limits will come into force once the signage change is completed, estimated to be by late in the month.

The Tamahere Reserve has been closed temporarily.

A number of the pine trees in the Tauwhare Rd reserve have been found to be posing a risk to reserve users.

The Waikato District Council has organised arborists to work on the dangerous trees as soon as possible.

Sanderson Group, which plans a new retirement village in Tamahere, is set to take possession of the 10ha site from April 1.

Signs announcing the arrival of its Tamahere Country Club are already up on the block bounded by Airport Rd and Tamahere Drive.

Construction will start with water treatment and sewerage plants, a traffic bund along Airport Rd or SH21 and the first show homes.

The next phase of consultation between Tamahere and the Waikato District Council has begun on locals’ priorities for their area.

Tamahere people have until April 8 to express their views online and at a community meeting later this month.

The council is now calling for Tamahere’s top three priorities on issues such as a footbridge across Airport Rd, a zero waste initiative at the new shopping centre, and the re-zoning of some land from rural to village.

Hamilton City Council’s rejection of a proposal which would have resumed library access for Waikato District Council residents is disappointing, says Waikato District Council ward councillor and deputy mayor Dynes Fulton.

At a closed session last Thursday, HCC turned down a $250,000 offer from WDC to re-establish library service and said it would initiate wider cross-boundary discussion with WDC.

The Tamahere Recreation Reserve and Piazza project has not had a cost blow-out, says the Waikato District Council.

The council has been moved to counter a media report that the budget for Tamahere Park has blown its budget with a $1.6m cost that was around four times the original plan.

But the reported figures – dubbed “Monopoly money” by one councillor – are supplier quotes and cost estimates, not actual costs, the council said in a statement.

Locals are being urged to have their say on the speeds traffic can travel on the area’s roads, which have been found to be high-risk or that have been affected by rapid residential growth.

Feedback can be given by making submissions on a Waikato District Council by-law.

Be on the lookout for free bunches of flowers to take home next week – posies are being left at public places throughout the country by members of Women’s Institute. The Lonely Bouquet Initiative is spreading the word that the WI is alive and kicking and looking to recruit new members, says Sarajane Crookes, president

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