Council futureproofs RAPID numbers for new dwellings

Hurunui District Council is building on the gains made by the Rural Addressing Project by futureproofing rural address numbering for all new rural properties, principal buildings and accessways.

At Tuesday’s Strategy and Community Committee meeting, councillors passed a resolution that all new rural properties, principal buildings and all new accessways are provided with correct RAPID numbers at the owner’s cost and are installed by Council through fees and charges.

“Our district relies heavily on our emergency services and Council plays a critical role to ensure they are able to get to where they are needed as directly as possible,” said Hurunui District Mayor Marie Black.

The Rural Addressing Project was initiated by Council in response to a deputation by Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) in 2020 to the Strategy and Policy Committee meeting to highlight barriers for emergency services in locating rural addresses that don’t have correct and well displayed numbering.

Council Planner Scott Rose said since the project began, over 600 Rural Address Property Identification (RAPID) number plates had been purchased, over 70 on-site audits had been completed on over 70 dairy farms in the Amuri Basin, and two rights of way had been named.

FENZ preferred properties to be physically numbered as GPS triangulation was not as effective in rural areas, Rose said. With many dairy farms and vineyards in the Hurunui having multiple dwellings on one location, “part of our work is doing on-site audits and ensuring properties are labelled correctly”.

Council will continue to work with existing properties to assist landowners in obtaining and displaying the correct RAPID numbers for their properties. Information on how to be allocated a RAPID number can be found on the Council website at https://www.hurunui.govt.nz/
property-rates/rapid-numbers