Nothing selfish about sticking to City Plan

LOIS LEVY, CAMPAIGN CO-ORDINATOR, GECKO

FOR some reason the Mayor has decided to attack a group of people he calls “greenies”, though there is no definition of who exactly fits into this nebulous group.

He claims these unidentified people are selfish because …?

What is selfish about wanting the city to be more sustainable? There is no personal gain for individuals lobbying for this.

It is a good thing the city is doing those actions the Mayor has listed, though many in council actively objected to The Spit Master Plan.

Council also has not bought a single piece of new public open space for recreation or conservation since it got rid of the acquisition requirement of the Open Space Preservation Levy, despite the rapid growth of the population.

This scheme was replaced in late 2020 with the Natural Area Acquisition Policy but nothing appears to have happened since then in terms of acquiring more land. COVID-19 has shown us that public open spaces of all kinds are essential to the health and welfare of people as well as other species.

Because we don’t know what council is doing, Gecko wrote to council last week asking what council is doing about a climate action policy, not only for council but also in the community, and we are waiting on its answer.

Whatever your definition of a “greenie” there is nothing wrong with wanting the City Plan to be adhered to. Gecko accepts that development must go up not out but we want that development to comply with the City Plan, and not be given huge relaxations, and to introduce sustainability elements such as solar panels, water saving, energy efficient building materials and decent landscaping to name a few.

Perhaps council could work with the much-maligned “greenies” instead of castigating them and achieve better outcomes for our city. This did happen successfully in past; councils with the various advisory committees drawing on the expertise and experience of a wide range of communityminded people.