Taupo District Council today announces that the new masterplanned garden suburb it plans to create to provide around 2,200 new homes in Taupo will be called Tauhara Ridge.

The name has now been approved by the Taupo/Kaingaroa - Mangakino/Pouakani Committee, following consultation with local Iwi and a recommendation by a Sub-Committee set up specifically to oversee the Victoria stage of the development.

Scott Holdsworth, Strategic Property Project Manager for Taupo District Council, said that the suburb is named after Mt Tauhara, which overlooks the suburb and Taupo as a whole. "Taupo's geological history is volcanic. The lake, the mountains and its geothermal areas are a central part of Taupo's natural history. As the suburb sits in the shadow of Mt Tauhara on a ridge overlooking the lake, the most appropriate naming option was Tauhara Ridge."

He added that the name is part of an overall, considered strategy that will include the naming of the seven distinct neighbourhoods within the suburb, the gullies that thread through the land, plus individual terrace areas and open space areas, including parks and streets.

Next steps for the development include: 1. Seminars for builders and estate agents in mid March - to introduce Tauhara Ridge and to ensure that they are part of the marketing process. Invitations will go out imminently; 2. A show home will be launched just before Easter - to reveal the sustainable design elements of Tauhara Ridge and to profile the next sections to become available in the Victoria area. The public will be invited to visit the home from the beginning of April. 3. The front page for a website for the community - www.tauhara.co.nz - is now live and will be developed in the run up to Easter. It will enable people to view the proposed community and the thinking that underpins it.

Scott Holdsworth says that the show home is about council putting the first foot forward. "It is a one-off, designed to be a beacon of good practice. We will not be dictating to people that this is how things must be done, or how much their home should cost, but we want to raise awareness of what is possible. We hope that people take some of the principles on board for the good of their families and the environment."