29 February 2016
Wellington bike tracks opened with Transpower support
Bikes were in style on Sunday 28 February as both the Capital BMX and the Wellington Mountainbike clubs opened new
community recreation facilities made
possible through grants from Transpower’s CommunityCare Fund.
The Capital BMX club celebrated the opening of their new BMX track in Ian Galloway Park in Wilton. Six hundred
truck-and-trailer units of earth, many volunteer hours, and various funds - including $36,000 from Transpower - helped
make the track possible. The track is overlooked by Transpower’s Wilton to Central Park 110 kV transmission line.
Further along the same transmission lines that feed electricity to Wellington, a new bike and walking track in the
Polhill Gully was also officially opened to the Wellington public assisted by a grant of $46,000 from the Transpower
CommunityCare Fund. The 1.8km track has been designed for cyclists, walkers and runners to share, with sweeping views of
the harbour and extensive native bird life near Zealandia.
It is set beneath transmission lines on Town Belt reserve land and is a short stroll from the Central Park substation.
Transpower’s Corporate Communications Manager Rebecca Wilson said that supporting community projects like the Capital
BMX and Wellington Mountainbike clubs’ tracks were an important way of helping the local community make their visionary
projects a reality.
“Our CommunityCare Fund is a great opportunity for us to work with communities that host our assets. We are a part of
the landscape in these areas, and we’re
pleased to have been able to help with both new facilities,” she said.
“We receive a wide range of applications from very worthwhile and important community projects across the country and
it’s pleasing to see initiatives like these being driven by local communities.” The CommunityCare Fund was set up in
2007 to assist communities affected by Transpower’s projects and assets with projects that benefit communities as a
whole.
Since then, over $7 million has been granted to worthwhile projects up and down New Zealand. Funding rounds are held in
March and September (with application close-off dates of 31 January and 31 July respectively).
Further information on Transpower’s CommunityCare Fund, including a full list of the successful applicants for this
round, can be viewed at www.transpower.co.nz.
ends