Tom Grant Drive

This reserve is 4.7520 hectares in size.  The drive starts at Rawhiti Avenue, and finishes in the northern end of Matamata on Tawari Street, and is bounded along its length by residential and rural properties. The reserve contains a collection of semi mature trees that include Idesia Polycarpa, Ulmus Procera, Gleditsia Tricanthos, Liquidamber styraciflua, Acer palmatum, Liriodendron tulipifera, Albizzia Julibrissin, Magnolia grandiflora, Melia Azedarach and Eucalyptus spp. The Operative District Plan identifies Tom Grant Drive as a Reserve in the Resdiential Zone. History Tom Grant Drive is made up of numerous lots vested in Matamata Borough Council between 1976 and 1981. A small number of these lots were vested in Matamata Borough Council as recreation reserves under the Municipal Corporations Act 1954, then in 1977 they were automatically classified under the Reserves Act. Tom Grant Drive is maintained by the Tom Grant Drive Committee in conjunction with Matamata-Piako District Council. The committee is a voluntary organisation involved in development and maintenance projects on the drive. During 1997 the final link of the drive between Karaka Street and Ngaio Street was added following the subdivision of land belonging to Ron Langlands. Located on this final addition to the Drive is a playground that was built in 1998 following the dismantling of the Lions Club playground during the same year. In 2007, after receiving a petition and undertaking community consultation, Matamata-Piako District Council formally adopted the change of name from Centennial Drive North to Tom Grant Drive.