CAMBRIDGE NEWS | 1
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 10, 2022
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It’s a real newspaper FEBRUARY 10, 2022
Library plan driven out By Mary Anne Gill
The former Bunnings site in Cambridge has sold and will become a car yard. The site went out to tender last month and Waikato-based Ingham, one of New Zealand’s largest car dealers, bought it for an undisclosed sum. The company gazumped Waipā District Council by 24 hours. The council said in May last year it had no plans to buy it, but changed its mind. Dealer principal John Ingham, who took over Ōtorohanga Motors when it was a service centre in 1986 and built it into a multi-dealer operation, told The
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News all going well “we would love to have a spade in the site this year.” “We’ve been looking to move into Cambridge for some time,” he said. “We’re looking at the long term with the purchase.” Ingham secured the entire site which comprises a 2000 square metre freehold section and two leasehold portions. The company planned to demolish the Bunnings building and replace it with something which would acknowledge its prominent position in the town
The former Bunning site will be a car dealership.
centre and the Cambridge character. “We’re full steam ahead. We’ve got architects working on plans as we speak.” Cambridge resident Martin Swan of DLA Architects in Hamilton is lead architect on the project. Ingham has dealerships in Te Awamutu, Taupo, Mount Maunganui, Hamilton, Napier, North Shore and Auckland. Australian-owned Bunnings closed its Cambridge and Te Awamutu stores, and five others throughout New Zealand in June 2020. In May last year, Waipā District Council purchased the hardware retailer’s premises in Te Awamutu for $2.05 million. The council will use the site to house Te Ara Wai, a museum to display Waipā and New Zealand history, with a focus on the New Zealand Land Wars. Chief executive Garry Dyet said the council received valuation advice, put in a bid but was unsuccessful. He said initially the price was deemed too high, but an offer was made after the value was “moderated”. “A new space for our Cambridge Library is part of our Long Term Plan. Council saw that the old Bunnings building was for sale and saw this as an opportunity for that facility.” We will continue to look for opportunities for the Cambridge library.
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We’re so hot…
Karāpiro: where the mercury rose.
By Mary Anne Gill
Karāpiro was the hottest place in the country last month when the temperature gauge hit 34.7°C on January 4. Niwa meteorologist/forecaster Seth Carrier confirmed the area around the Cambridge lake was the national hot spot while also revealing Waipā temperatures for January were 1.5°C above average. The district’s mean temperature for the month was 19.8°C at Hamilton Airport which also recorded the district’s second driest January on record – the driest was in 1955 with only 6mm of rain. Farmers have welcomed Waitangi weekend’s rainfall which greened up paddocks and filled water tanks. Waikato Regional Council’s Tokanui – Farm Road and Puniu River stations near Te Awamutu recorded just over 61mm of rain while Niwa’s at Lake Karāpiro near Cambridge clocked 86.5mm and the MetService reported nearly 69mm at Hamilton Airport. But MetService warns another long dry spell for the North Island is on its way with “sweaty daytime temperatures in the high twenties or early thirties.” For the second year running, Niwa’s Waikeria station is out of order.