Board struggling to ‘formally engage’ with council

WANAKA’S ¯ community board has aired concerns about its ‘‘struggle’’ to meaningfully engage with the Queenstown Lakes District Council.

The comments were made as the QLDC prepares to show the Local Government Commission (LGC) it has taken steps to provide ‘‘increased further empowerment of the Community Board’’ before the end of next month.

In an hourlong session at the conclusion of the WanakaUpper ¯ Clutha Community Board’s (WUCCB) regular monthly meeting earlier this month, chairman Simon Telfer told council representatives there appeared to be few avenues by which the entire board were able to formally communicate with the council. ‘‘As a community board we struggle with how we can formally engage with council other than turning up to the public forum,’’ he said.

‘‘We’re asked to make a submission, but we could be the local early childhood centre or we could be the rugby club. There doesn’t seem to be any way that we have the ability to make a representation to the council other than booking in three minutes.’’

Council representatives were taking part in the workshop as part of the council’s efforts to respond to an LGC report in December last year.

That report had rejected a petition calling for the Upper Clutha to split from the Queenstown Lakes District, but tasked the QLDC with preparing an action plan to build a ‘‘stronger relationship between the community and the council’’ with a deadline of May 31 this year. The board presented council representatives with a series of requests, including ‘‘more formal’’ means for the board to communicate with the council, the establishment of regular ‘‘semiformal’’ interactions between both entities, improved communication between the board and certain council departments and a greater visibility of the status of council projects in the Upper Clutha. Board member Lyal Cocks said increased community board input on council matters was not about ‘‘trying to create a whole lot of bureaucracy’’, but to ensure board members were able to act as more effective conduits between the council and the Upper Clutha community.

‘‘At that point we get the knowledge, so that when we get confronted at the golf club or something with, ‘what the hell’s going on there?’, we actually understand it rather than, I don’t know, someone out there’s made the decision.’’

Council corporate services general manager Meaghan Miller said she had already spoken to Mayor Glyn Lewers about some of the board’s concerns and would continue to communicate with him and other areas of council moving forward.

Council governance and stakeholder services manager Naell CrosbyRoe, also presented the board with a list of changes the council had already implemented to increase ‘‘communication, engagement and transparency’’ with the Upper Clutha community.

These included a move to hold a minimum of three council meetings in the Upper Clutha each year, efforts to increase the number of meetings and workshops in the district, improving the availability of information about those meetings and workshops and conducting research with members of the public.