Nippers cater Plan meeting
Chatting and snacking are two ways western ward residents can help their community tonight at the Titahi Bay Surf Lifesaving Club.
Porirua City Council is hosting a casual meeting to help people understand its draft Long Term Plan, currently out for public consultation.
The future of many city services from library hours to rubbish bins is being discussed in the plan, which will decide the council’s spending for the next 10 years.
Meanwhile, the surf club’s nip- pers – trainee lifesavers aged seven to 13 – will be serving refreshments to raise money for new gear.
The 80-strong club needs $18,000 to buy softboards, club co-ordinator Paul Mcvicar says.
‘‘A lot of our nippers’ gear is old. We need specialised equipment to teach the kids water safety and learning from within the water.’’
During the summer the 75-yearold club provides volunteer weekend beach patrols, and the council contracts the club to do patrols during the week.
Western ward councillor ’ Ana Coffey says having the community work with the council at the open day is a good example of what’s needed in finalising the Long Term Plan.
‘‘This is a joint plan between the council and the community so I hope people will call in and tell us whether they agree with the proposals we’ve outlined in the draft. We’ve made the format of this meeting less formal so that people who are not confident expressing their views in a public meeting, can now do so on a face-to-face basis with councillors or officers.’’
About 50 people turned up to a similar northern ward meeting at the Light House cinema in Pauatahanui last week.
The public can pop in tonight any time between 5.30pm and 7.30pm and chat informally with councillors.
Hard copies of the draft plan and submission forms will be available to take away, and computers will be on hand for people to make their submissions online.