The learning continues
This column marks my second year on the Northland Regional Council, and it’s been a steep learning curve that hasn’t flattened out yet. Sometimes I wonder where two years has gone, but then I look around my office and see the stacks of reports and papers that have informed the hundreds (perhaps thousands) of decisions that have been made.
Some of the most significant decisions were around the longterm plan, which provides direction for the next 10 years.
Having resilient town infrastructure was near the top of the list. Climate change is pushing larger, wetter weather systems down on us, and sooner or later Kaitaia going to be hit hard. Upgrading the Kaitaia-Awanui flood protection scheme pushed its way to the top of my list.
With more than 89km of flood banks and 141 aging floodgates, considerable works were in the pipeline to achieve protection from a 1:100 year event. The community committee overseeing the scheme was fully supportive of doing the job properly, opting for the full monty $15 million project. As this would have been a huge financial burden on a small town, the council consulted on and then adopted the regional flood protection rate, which will pay for 70 per cent of the project. Work on the Bell’s Hill slip is already in progress, and everyone will sleep better when it’s completed.
Another local project, Kaitaia’s Te Hiku Sports Hub, vexed me considerably. At first it seemed like a ‘nice to have,’ something very secondary to the significant infrastructure upgrades our town so desperately needs. But a strong case for social infrastructure, something that built human capacity and resilience, was demonstrated to council, thus earning its full support.
It is surely better to engage youth in sports than drag them before the criminal justice system. Better to provide aquatic exercise opportunities for the elderly than hip operations and medications. It will also help attract more professionals to our town, helping our community function better.
Water was another big issue. Clean, green NZ? Not in some of our rivers and estuaries. Freshwater improvement will focus on the reduction of sedimentation through more riparian planting and reducing hill country erosion with poplar planting. We have engaged more farm planners to help farmers reduce sediment and nutrient loadings. I am pleased with the enthusiastic adoption by Northland’s farming community of more sustainable land practices.
Protecting our native flora and fauna from invasive weeds and predators was a community priority that we have met by significantly increasing the resources and personnel in our biosecurity team, but overcoming foes like kauri dieback, myrtle rust and Mediterranean fan worm, as well as possums, rats and ginger, requires getting the whole community on board the action plan.
Looks like this next year is going to be busy too.
■ mikef@nrc.govt.nz
"We have engaged more farm planners to help farmers reduce sediment and nutrient loadings. I am pleased with the enthusiastic adoption by Northland’s farming community of more sustainable land practices."