Kindergarten waiting lists at Papamoa are going to get longer, after the government cut funding for a planned Papamoa East kindergarten.

Tauranga Regions Kindergarten principal Peter Monteith says they have been forced to abandon plans for the new $500,000 kindergarten, following an $850,000 cut to Tauranga Regions Kindergartens' total funding.
Research shows 40 families would fill the kindergarten on the first day, says Peter.
There are only two other kindergartens in Papamoa and one has a waiting list of 90 children.
"It's (Papamoa) effectively going to be a small city. There's plans for another 20,000 people in the area. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't just be one kindy we'd be looking at," says Peter.
A leasehold section for the new kindergarten is on Golden Sands Drive.
"We had a site and were about to sign the lease."
The kindergarten cuts were announced in the government's 2010 Budget.
Peter says they will look at other means to secure the funding for the kindergarten.
"If we can sort out our financial situation, and source the money, it will be back on the agenda but I can't see that happening for at least another year."
Under government criteria for community services, Papamoa is too rich and not sufficiently Islander or Maori to qualify.
"But even with the new kindergarten at the back of the Welcome Bay School, we didn't get any funding for that either, and Papamoa has a few more resources than Welcome Bay."
As well as losing the Papamoa East kindergarten, Tauranga Region Kindergartens have lost a significant slice of its operating budget. The total cuts are $850,000.