Fun and games

FROM PAGE 6

the PGF is only beginning to make up for lost time, consideration and investment.

As expected, Goldsmith then abandons coherent argument to defend National’s RoNS $4 billion four lane highway from Wellsford to Whanga¯ rei, saying, “This project has been scrapped in favour of light rail in Auckland”.

Scrapped or rationalised? Labour-led’s transport policy certainly includes Auckland light rail, and, sensibly, favours some additional focus on heavy rail — Mainfreight apparently agrees — but it only downgrades four lanes to an infinitely more sensible, perfectly adequate and fiscally responsible highway (I call) two lanes plus strategic passing lanes with safety.

In 2017 Northland’s GDP was $7 billion, or 2.6 per cent of New Zealand’s total GDP, way behind Auckland, Waikato, BoP, Wellington and Canterbury, where other Roads of National Significance were originally targeted. So based on economic evidence alone, Northland doesn’t deserve four lanes. We deserve two plus safety — everyone does — along with many improvements to roads and bridges north of Whanga¯ rei.

This constitutes genuine regional development, as in across the region.

For ‘Holiday Highway’ advocates, why isn’t there a plan for four lanes to the Coromandel Peninsula? Possibly because the seat of Coromandel is now comfortably held by National.

As I recall, RoNS north of Auckland originally only included Puhoi to Warkworth, to make that town a dormitory suburb. Warkworth to Wellsford was added at the byelection, but this failed to retain National the Northland seat.

Wellsford to Whanga¯ rei was added as a very expensive $4 billion piece of “shameless pork-barrelling” by National at the last election.

Now in opposition, still pork-barrelling, they’re talking-up RoNS at every opportunity, while concurrently talkingdown overseas and private sector investment. Perhaps accountability should cover this sort of thing too.

We might begrudge Labour-led a fuel tax, but it must be remembered that each 20km stretch of four lanes to Whanga¯ rei, will cost $1 billion to build – $50 million per kilometre, $50,000 per metre or $500 per centimetre. These were almost certainly intended to be toll roads, like the Puhoi tunnel, costing every vehicle $2.20 or more per trip.

This explains why the planned fourlane motorway completely avoids SH1 in favour of a new route, cutting out Warkworth and Wellsford. Total Auckland to Whanga¯ rei: $15.40 in tolls.

Towns only delay cars, and especially trucks, anyhow.

Finally, if RoNS went ahead, the old SH1 would still need maintaining as the alternative or poor man’s route. This is more than fiscally irresponsible, it’s socially irresponsible.

Labour-led’s approach to provincial growth may not be perfect, but numerous projects spread across the entire region, plus a perfectly sufficient highway, plus improved provincial roads, are far better than one four lane highway Wellsford to Whanga¯ rei, still two stages short of Wellsford. WALLY HICKS

Kohukohu Old wing-nuts can always rely on a singular day in July: on a pier up at Russell one can see peewits hustle to build up momentum to fly.

Of course all depends on just whether the concourse is blessed with fine weather: saturation from dumps can play havoc with jumps thwarting goshawks from flaunting their feather.

They do it in wheelchairs and costumes ignoring reality, nostrums After reading the 39-page report commissioned by the FNDC on the proposed new Sports Hub, I have serious concerns on the viability of this project .

The Global Leisure Group has identified areas of concern in management, size of the proposed pool and the age of many of the sports grounds and facilities.

My concerns relate to previous and recent statements from FNDC about the siting of the proposed new pool and Hub.

As a community board member when Yvonne Sharp was Mayor, I was involved in the investigation for a new heated pool in Kaita¯ia.

The pool committee considered options to rebuild the pool where it is now, looked at the southern end of town, and were also offered the land west of JNL (who also offered to provide the heating of the pool using the steam run-off), which at the time I thought was an offer not to refuse.

But then all of these were deemed inappropriate because of reasons of distance from town, the unavailability of parking facilities at the old pool site and the flood risk, and the then engineers at council informed the committee they would not support a multi-million project being built on the Kaita¯ia flood plain.

Kaita¯ia College was then approached, along with the Education Board, with the idea of building the pool on the top playing field adjacent to Norman Senn Avenue, but the college and Education Board did not seem interested in providing any funding for this project, which was disappointing to say the least.

After this the idea of a new pool fell by the wayside for a number of years, until the Hub proposal came to light.

This statement about the pool has reared its head again in this report with the FNDC (section 10.8.1) stating “The FNDC has stated in the last two long term-plans that they will no longer pay for major repairs. The current pool location is unsuitable due to flooding and space limitations.”

So why on Earth are they backing a

on forces of gravity should warn it’s insanity to take off from pile-driven rostrums. One entrant attired as Rad Beron attempted to rise as a heron: his machine hit the deck at a speed was breakneck – with regret, he expired for his darin’. Please forgive some disdain, condescension re flither-wits aim at ascension for even a Newton or Vladimir Putin can’t hold one in constant suspension. For, the odds on a bod fully fledged strongly favour a flop leaves it wedged in a jumble of debris which, come month of Feb’ry, from channels will have to be dredged. Then after this pageant’s hit rocks there’s a drag race for men wearing frocks: in stilettos with handbags they slither round sandbags while strutting their stuff as stuffed cocks.

The sheilas then dress up as blokes and, sipping their Pepsis and Cokes run an obstacle course with such optical force any halfwit would take for a hoax. Even more they put on to arrest us: there’s Finnegan Fungal and Festus – two pirates who sing and more like to take wing than the roosters in suits who have blessed us.

Ah yes, it is all fun and games, plan to build a multi-million-dollar facility on the proposed site, which is also prone to flooding?

A survey through the Northland Age asked the question, Who would support a sports hub in Kaita¯ia? Without any knowledge of costs involved, the public agreed this was a good idea, and the first committee was formed to investigate this idea.

Now, at least four years on, I would say that at least 90 per cent of the public and ratepayers could not name the people on the committee, and we have never seen any building costs, financial records or anything pertaining to monetary matters, except for proposed loans by council $2.5 million for development of the first stage) and the possibility of Lotto funding and government grants.

I personally believe all the proposed costs of building this facility, ongoing costs, including repairs and maintenance, should be made public for all to see, along with a projected income source to help run this facility.

We as ratepayers are at present, and in the future, being burdened with the costs of the Te Ahu Centre, and I for one am not prepared to pay extra rates for a complex that will no doubt run into financial difficulties in the future.

At present we understand we will be paying a targeted rate, whereas ratepayers in close proximity will pay a lot more towards this project than those living elsewhere.

If this facility is available to all living in Te Hiku Ward, surely this targeted rate is not only unfair, I believe it is highly questionable.

So I am not requesting, I am demanding a full financial report be made available to all people living in our Northern Ward.

I have seen a serious downturn in nearly all sporting codes, not only in our area, and these have been caused by many reasons.

Fact: Since professional sport arrived, funding for amateur sport has been depleted to such a state that all clubs are struggling to survive. Numbers participating in most codes are noticeably getting lower year by year, caused by many factors: Work commitments (shift work and six working days a week for many), cost of equipment and maintenance, cost of travel, lack of commitment to a given code.

The major influence, I believe, is the electronic age of computers, the internet, cell phones, Facebook, and unfortunately the fact that there is a huge void between being a young sports person and then failing to transition into the senior sports codes.

Fact: Winter team numbers are down considerably every year due to a lot of the above reasons.

Our summer codes are nearly all gone up here, and it is not lack of available grounds etc. I believe that a major cause is our outdoor summer pursuits of swimming, fishing, boating, camping etc, in a place we are privileged to live in and to explore.

These opinions are not mine alone, and I to hope this message gets through to those who will make the decisions, but please remember that we the public need to have a say and be informed of decisions made before they are implemented.

I also understand that the Hub committee approached the FNDC recently requesting up to $50,000 extra as a loan, to pay for a co-ordinator.

We the public need to be informed of these requests. In other words, let’s keep the financial side open for all to see so we can understand what the committee is doing.

I call these actions of the committee a closed door policy, which to me is not a good look.

"The idea of a new pool fell by the wayside for a number of years, until the Hub proposal came to light."

MIKE RIDER

Kaita¯ ia