Limit the numbers of visitors to special spots
I APPRECIATE that the borders are open now, but afraid that the idea of limiting numbers to places of special significance and beauty doesn’t seem to have filtered through to the Department of Conservation or the Dunedin City Council.
Tunnel Beach walkway definitely required a safer area for parking, but I think 60 car parks and tour buses will help to destroy the whole atmosphere and peace of the area.
Tunnel Beach is a very small area of land, beautiful and tranquil, and will be totally ruined by hordes of tourists dropping rubbish, swimming, playing ball games, etc.
Why can’t we limit the numbers and let it remain an area of natural beauty, to be appreciated and not end up like the circus that is Land’s End in the United Kingdom?
The fact that the area is zoned ruralresidential must be disappointing for the surrounding neighbourhood.
Liz Selbie
Dunedin
Taxis need shakeup
I AM writing this letter because I am concerned about the state of the taxi services in Dunedin.
I have elderly friends who are being stood up by taxi drivers. After ordering, they are being left standing.
Gold Cards are not being accepted by some drivers.
I am not sure how many taxi services there are left in Dunedin. I’ve been told the most reliable one now has an automated answer service that does not work.
A friend’s friends were stood up after booking a taxi for an aeroplane flight and they missed the flight.
It’s a real shame that this is happening.
It’s affecting the most vulnerable citizens in our community. That’s pretty tough.
It would be good if something could be done about this.
Hazel Rangitauira
Musselburgh
BEFORE the end of the month the Government will release its National Policy Statement for Protection of Highly Productive Land. Sadly this has coincided with the Greenfield subdivision hearings under Amendment 2 of the Second Generation District Plan.
These hearings will decide the fate of Class 1 Highly Productive Land on the Taieri.
The evaluation of these properties has been done under outdated RMA guidelines, which are not fitforpurpose in a postCovid, climate change environment.
Does this council and its mayor, Aaron Hawkins (Green Party), want to go down in local body history as the last council to approve the destruction of highly valuable productive land by subdividing it into quarteracre blocks, allowing septic tank dispersal and providing the least affordable housing in all of Dunedin?
Name withheld on the basis of being a submitter in the hearing
process.
Sale of assets
IN reply to Bill Swift (Letters, 18.8.22), Labour has done nothing for Dunedin.
The new hospital was started by National.
As for selling off state assets, Labour sold the railways, post office
(Telecom, savings bank) and all the power stations in the 1980s.
The sale of Telecom alone resulted in over 20,000 jobs lost when the Americans owned it.
The Americans downsized the railways, then sold it to Toll Holdings of Australia before it was bought back by the Helen Clark government in a very rundown state.
Murray Proctor
Mosgiel ...................................
From Him the whole body grows and builds itself up in love. — 4:16.
AT a time when residents are telling us consultation is inadequate, it amazes me that the Government is recommending giving the power to local councils to remove parking spaces and restrict vehicles from certain places without public consultation.
To suggest that the public can comment on changes after they have been made is not being inclusive and borders on dictatorship.
The current Dunedin mayor states this is a positive move and will increase consultation through a ‘‘test by doing’’.
Consultation is communication before action is taken, not after.
The ideological approach of this mayor and his supporters flies in the face of practical solutions, paving the way for less accessibility in favour of environmental objectives.
Everyone knows the importance of improving the environment, but restricting current methods of transport when practical alternatives are not widely available, is a poor approach to making our city and quality of life better.
Bill Acklin Abbotsford