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Duke & Cooke Property News |
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Published on: 23rd August 2008 HOME AFFORDABILITY IMPROVING HOME AFFORDABILITY IMPROVINGPeople buying their first home in Nelson and Marlborough need to be earning at least $1111.46 a week after tax for their mortgage to be considered affordable, according to the latest Wizard Home Loans Affordability index. The monthly assessment of housing affordability found that homes in the region became more affordable for first home and typical home buyers in July, compared with the previous month and the same time last year. A mortgage is considered affordable if the weekly payments are 40 percent or less of weekly take-home pay. The report attributes falling interest rates for making houses more affordable in July. (The Nelson Mail, Tuesday 19 August 2008) SQUEEZE MIGHT SEE CYF HOME REOPENChild, Youth and Family is considering reopening its Green St family home, following concern from community groups that Nelson’s young people desperately need more temporary housing options. CYF Upper South operations manager Helen Aiken said the agency was “beginning to explore” how the home could be used most effectively. She said CYF still owned the Tahunanui house, which last closed in late 2006 due to difficulties with finding suitable family home caregivers. Nearby residents had complained about the house and young people living there before it closed. CYF statistics show that as of June 30 this year, there were 126 Nelson children and young people aged up to 16 living in “out-of-home placements”. (The Nelson Mail, Wednesday 20 August 2008) LOGGING TRUCK ROUTE CAUSES WORRYA large increase in logging trucks expected to start rumbling through residential Nelson streets within days has some residents concerned for their safety. The increase in logging activity from the Maitai Valley forests could start as early as today and comes after large numbers of trees were blown down during last month’s storm, Hardy St resident Miranda Van Dyke said. Some of the trucks will be travelling down Milton St as they head to Port Nelson. This follows a voluntary agreement about five years ago between Carter Holt Harvey, which was the valley’s major logging company at the time, Nelson’s Safe Streets Association and the Nelson City Council that logging trucks would avoid Milton St when possible and use the Collingwood St route to State Highway 6 before heading to the port. Ms Van Dyke, who lives at the Milton St end of Hardy St, said Milton St was too narrow for trucks and the bends and corners on the Milton St route meant they had to change speeds often, increasing noise. (The Nelson Mail, Friday 22 August 2008) MORE THAN 100 HAVE SAY ON CITY CENTRE STRATEGYNelson’s hanging baskets and central city trees are firm favourites on a wish list of how people want to see the city in future. However, there is ample room for improvement, according to the themes that have emerged from a public meeting in early July and a report to the central city strategy steering group this week. Nelson’s connection to the sea and Maitai River needed improving, with many believing the city had “turned its back on the water”, city council environmental policy planner and strategy project manager David Jackson said. He compiled the report based on more than 100 public submissions to the strategy, which revealed several key themes, including the need to make Nelson more pedestrian-friendly and allow it to develop a stronger identity. “There was a lot of comment about the compact, pedestrian-friendly central city, but it was also an area people wanted improvements the most,” Mr Jackson said. (The Nelson Mail, Friday 22 August 2008) NELSON’S SUNNY DAYS EXPECTED TO LIFT ENERGY LEVELSNelson could become New Zealand’s first “solar city”, after the city council agreed to spend half the $40,000 needed for a study into how to encourage wider use of solar energy systems. Newly-formed Richmond company Energyshift Ltd has offered $20,000 towards the joint study, with an early aim of setting up a pilot scheme to install solar water heating systems in 10 Nelson homes, paid for by home owners. The ultimate aim was to install solar energy systems in 1000 properties in the first year of operation, Nelson city councillors heard yesterday. The feasibility study would look into benefits provided through the bulk purchase of solar heating systems, and the potential for accessing greater government subsidies for the scheme. It would also look at whether the council could provide loans for such units, which cost up to around $5500, repaid through rates in a way similar to the current Clean Heat Warm Homes Scheme. (The Nelson Mail, Friday 22 August 2008) TOWER FEARS TO BE AIREDNelson’s anti-cellphone tower campaigners will address a parliamentary select committee next month, as the fight against the towers heats up nationally. Ban the Tower spokeswoman Sue Grey said the local government and environment select committee had invited the group to make a submission as a result of its 3000-signature petition asking for a ban on towers near schools and houses. The group took on Telecom this year and succeeded in getting the corporate giant to delay erecting a cellphone tower next to the Atawhai Playcentre until late 2009. Miss Grey said she and others had done a lot of research on cellphones and cellphone towers, and they remained concerned about the possible health risk from electro-magnetic radiation. (The Nelson Mail, Saturday 23 August 2008) PROPERTY WATCHStoke section sells
(The Nelson Mail, Saturday 23 August 2008) |
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