Park, projects out of plan

The Fitzroy Golf Club is safe for the foreseeable future after New Plymouth District Council upheld a mayoral recommendation not to include the sale and development of part of Peringa Park in the Long Term Plan.

Mayor Neil Holdom addressed the meeting, apologising to the public and his councillors for any grief caused by his push for selling the recreational reserve land.

A move from councillor Shaun Biesiek to include a 21-year lease renewal for the Fitzroy Golf Club was shot down, with the recommendation made and carried for council officers to prepare reports and have discussions with the golf course before moving forward.

‘‘This gives certainty moving forward that the golf course will be going nowhere,’’ Biesiek said.

The redevelopment of the TSB Stadium and Todd Energy Aquatic Centre were also removed from the Long Term Plan, and moved to be considered under the Infrastructure Strategy which would allow the council to ask for external funding at a later date.

Zero Waste 2040 was approved, with a rate increase of 0.8 per cent in 2019 ($19 per year) increasing to 2 per cent in 2020 ($48 per year) and additional debt of $3.4 million in 2020/21 to fund the Waste Minimisation Management Plan.

Councillor Stacey Hitchcock said they had heard the submitters who thought composting was a better option then kerbside food waste collection.

‘‘We will be working with our team on also working on home composting and how we can work that in.’’

Option three for water resilience was also passed – investing more to look after and upgrade the current drinking and waste water networks.

Meanwhile, smallholders will not be happy after New Plymouth District Council passed a 3.6 per cent rates increase for them by one vote.

Councillors went with option two of the Revenue and Funding Policy, increasing the small holding percentage to 3.6 per cent of the total rate take over three years, while decreasing the commercial percentage to 26.90 per cent and the farmland percentage to 15.50 per cent in the same time frame.

This would see the average small holder’s rates increase from $1286 annually to $1361.

At the same time, the decision not to fund a seawall preventing erosion at Onaero Reserve was ‘‘an intersection of reality and policy’’, Holdom said as councillors voted against funding $750,000 for its construction.

‘‘I feel terribly for people and we’ve heard from a number of them that go to bed at night worried about storms and worried about heavy rain,’’ he said.

However, if the council wrote the cheque for the Onaero Reserve, they would be ‘‘writing cheques forever’’, he said.

Councillors moved to transfer the Onaero seawall consent to a new private organisation intended to represent at least 11 property owners who are most at risk.