Horowhenua is to many one of those places that you just zoom through on State Highway One as you make a headlong charge between Wellington and some distant point north. To many the name Horowhenua, is largely unknown as most people recognise the area by its principal town, Levin.
Compared to the large metropolis of say Auckland and Wellington, the district is small with just over 30,000 people but from a national perspective it sits right in the middle of population size for all territorial districts in New Zealand. It is in fact your typical New Zealand rural district.
What is different in so far as the people of Wellington are concerned is that Horowhenua with all that rural New Zealand has to offer is just one hour away. Just one hour from the stresses of city life. Some people describe Horowhenua as 'blob out' territory and it really is for those wanting some time out to refresh the body and soul.
Maybe it is a walk on the magnificent isolated beaches from Himatangi in the north to Waikawa in the south, maybe it is relaxing beside one of the beautiful rivers or maybe it is just sitting under a tree and reading a book and taking in the smells of the country.
For those more active there is tramping in the formidable Tararua Ranges, mountainbiking over the many trails, surf swimming, land yachting or playing golf on one of four great golf courses.
From an economic perspective, Horowhenua operates around a strong rural industry. Traditionally the area with its rich alluvial soils and mild temperate climate has become the market garden of the lower North Island but there are many other rural industries that thrive here too - dairying, deer farming, garden centres, floriculture to name a few.
As the demand for organic food steadily increases the area will grow in importance as a producer of organic produce and environmentally the District is committed to having a large proportion of the land that is free of chemicals.
We all know of the importance of caring for our environment and the Horowhenua District Council is extremely conscious of this. For instance it is steadily working towards sewerage schemes that are all land based and do not deposit treated effluent into the waterways. Levin, with a population of 16,000, just over half the total population, was a New Zealand leader in land based sewerage treatment and has operated this system for more than ten years.
The results are very encouraging. At Lake Horowhenua, the largest North Island lake south of Taupo, the revegetation programme being conducted by local iwi is immense and is working. Fish have returned to the lake in abundance and a replanting of native trees and flax around the 13km lakeshore is the largest iwi environment programme in New Zealand.
As development slowly creeps up the coast from Kapiti, Horowhenua is experiencing the early stages of what is believed will be substantial growth in the next ten years. Commuting between Horowhenua is now an accepted way of life and highway developments over the next ten to fifteen years will make this more attractive. Lifestyle property development is mushrooming and the beach settlements are set to explode.
