Heritage facades helped set the scene for AmeriCARnival held in Ngāmotu New Plymouth’s central city on Saturday 28 February, highlighting the value of well-maintained heritage in our cityscape.

Ngāmotu’s central city area contains an eclectic mix of heritage architectural styles, with 19th century Classically inspired timber, and Stripped Classical and Art Deco reinforced concrete designs, being particularly prominent.

Efforts by owners and the NPDC to repaint a number of heritage buildings over the past few years has helped bring back some vibrancy to the central city – although there is still much work to be done!

Whilst built heritage has many wider public benefits, we know that maintaining heritage isn’t always easy (or cheap!), so we’re advocating for a stronger range of incentives for heritage building owners at the central government level – the cost shouldn’t fall solely on owners and councils.

Whilst we don’t agree with the approach proposed in current resource management reforms (mandatory regulatory relief), and believe this will result in poor heritage outcomes, we strongly support the provision of a wide range of voluntary incentives to assist owners of heritage with restoration and repairs.

Incentives such as grants, low-interest or suspensory loans, rates relief, bonus development rights, no-fees consents, technical and project advisory support, and tax relief/incentives, have positive heritage and wider benefits when administered appropriately.

So next time you’re in central Ngāmotu New Plymouth, or one of Taranaki’s many fantastic small towns, be sure to look up and take in the details of the many heritage facades around us, and pay a vote of thanks to those owners and others for their work in helping to conserve our unique built heritage and history!

You can find more info about policy changes impacting heritage in our recent submissions:

Resource management reforms: https://heritagetaranaki.com/…/planning-bill-natural…/

Earthquake prone buildings legislation: https://heritagetaranaki.com/…/heritage-taranakis…/