Rangitikei District Council

Council is aiming to support local communities to develop their own services and facilities to meet their locally defined needs. Council is seeking to increasingly work in partnership with other organisations and agencies to achieve this mainly through the Path to Well-being Initiative. The information below indicates some current initiatives:

Town Co-ordinators

Council works with local community economic development agencies in the main towns of Bulls, Marton and Taihape with funding to support Town Centre Co-ordinators. The co-ordinators operate across a range of groups and projects to help maintain vibrant, living communities in our main centres. They can be contacted at

Bulls: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Marton: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Taihape: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Marton Youth Employment Programme

Council has a partnership agreement with the Ministry of Social Development to support young people in Marton to transition from school into jobs in the town and southern District, or to go on to higher education. Toni Giddens works with young people and local businesses to help this happen. See HYPE Project for further details.

Community Development Initiative (Department of Internal Affairs)

The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) operates a grant scheme for community development (Community Development Scheme) targeting specific areas. Marton is currently benefiting from a dedicated community development officer, Travis White, who is working with a range of interested individuals and groups in four areas: community cohesion, pride in Marton, engaging young people and lifelong learning. Travis can be contacted through the Council and is interested to hear from anyone with ideas for community development.

Marton and Surrounds ICT (Information and Communications Technology) Hub

A partnership of four local organisations have successfully raised funding from the Department of Internal Affairs (Community Partnership Fund), LBS Dudding Trust and the Whanganui Community Foundation to develop an ICT training facilities, that also offer pay-as-you-go internet access. The Hubs are based in Marton Library ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) and the Old Post Office in Ratana ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

Community Gardens

Selected sites on Council-owned land in Marton is being offered to community groups to run community garden projects.

Below is a list of sites that Council has identified as suitable for use as community gardens and information about how groups can make an application to use a site.

Please click on the following link for further information regarding the sites: Suitable Sites List

*The areas identified are indicative only, and depending on the nature of the community garden project you are interested in establishing you may feel that another area at one of the A list sites maybe more suitable.  If this is the case please specify this in your written application for consideration.

Applications for use of one of the above identified sites must be made in writing to the Chief Executive of Rangitikei District Council and should state:

• The name and contact details of the applicant (including, if appropriate the group or organisational details) and the management structure for the proposed garden.
• The objectives of the intended community garden (these are the outcomes or values that the group will be operating by, for example; to run a community garden based on the principals of perma-culture).
• Details of who will be entitled to use the community garden and how they will be able to access it.  

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