Surf Life Saving Kariaotahi members will continue to keep swimmers safe after being granted a new lease on its beach site.
In 2016 Franklin Local Board approved a two-year lease with one-year right of renewal to allow a new facility to be built, but that agreement lapsed in May because the club had been unable to secure the funding it needs.
It requested a new lease on the same terms, two years with a one-year renewal, telling the board that since the lease expired plans and funding for the new building have progressed.
The board is a strong supporter of the club, which has been in the news after winning a regional award for rescuing 10 swimmers on Waitangi Day, when about 2000 people were on the beach as flash rips hit swimmers.
Five lifeguards secured 10 people in difficulty before an inflatable arrived, ferrying the distressed swimmers to safety.
The club was also recognised on the international stage this year. It’s rescue, with Waiuku and Papakura Coastguards, NZ Police and the Westpac Rescue Helicopter, was runner-up in a team award at the International Maritime Rescue Federation Awards in London.
The rescue also won a people’s choice award, saving a man, woman and child who'd been thrown into freezing water when their boat capsized on the Port Waikato Bar in May.
The new lease arrangement also promises a ground lease of 11 years upon a new facility being finished, with two 11-year rights of renewal.
