Newlands Volunteer Fire Station

Margaret from Paparangi

I was one of the attendees of last nights meeting regarding the Newlands Fire Station - great to see a good 'turn out' but it could certainly have been better. The only one of the 'panel' on stage that didn't come across as a total imbecile was the only lady - her first name was Brenda but I didn't catch her second. It was interesting to know that the question over the Newlands Volunteer Fire Station was first mooted in 1993, again in 2007 and of course again in 2019 when the WCC has decided it wants to build a toilet? Go figure! What the hell has been happening since 1993 and now? Brenda said 3 options were mooted - a) Close & dis-establish Newlands VFB, b) Build elsewhere in Newlands or c) the preferred option by the Fire Service - join with Johnsonville. By the way how the hell are they going to build an extension to the J/ville fire station to accommodate the Newlands Fire Engine? It reeks of total stupidity similar to Peter Gilberds idea that he was going to widen Batchelor Street to accommodate the extra cars parked there due to the intensive infill housing in Batchelor/Atkinson Streets! Brenda also asked what is the forecast growth in the Newlands area - the Fire Service could only come up with historical growth forecasts and what they learned from their 'models' - perhaps they should wake up and get with the current trends which indicate Newlands is growing faster than anyone imagined possible!