The Marlborough community values the landscape of the Wairau Plain. This has been brought into focus by the community's reaction to the loss of shelterbelts and feature plantings as a consequence of the continuing conversion of land to vineyards.
These changing circumstances have prompted the Council and the community to join together to provide a Landscape Concept Plan For the Wairau Plain. Rather than being viewed as detrimental, the recent land conversion has presented an opportunity, in that it signals that the landscape is important and that there is a prospect for collective effort to achieve positive outcomes for both the landscape and the environment.
One practical output from the Concept Plan work has been the production of the "Wairau Plain Landscape Concept Gudelines" booklet. This informative publication (compiled by the landscape architect firm of Lucas Associates) is now available on this Web site in the Plans & Reports section under Summary List. Limited hard copies are also available - free of charge - from the front counter of the Council's offices, in Seymour Street Blenheim.
The Council has also convened two working groups, to promote the Wairau Plain Landscape Concept. One group is looking into opportunities for plantings on public land administered by the Council, and the other Group is looking into prospects for encouraging and assisting with landscape initiatives on private land. These groups are working in conjunction with one another.
For further information about the Wairau Plain Landscape Concept, you are welcome to contact Nicky Eade at the Council's offices, on:
Phone: (03) 520 7400, e-mail: nicky.eade@marlborough.govt.nz.
