Enough of the ongoing dairy resource consents

A friend once gave some good advice: ‘‘When you are in a hole the best thing you can do is stop digging’’.

We are in a hole. Water quality all over the region is in dire straits.

Nobby Clark made some good points in a letter to the editor last month (January 12) reflecting our community’s concerns and we do not need another consultation process to know what they are.

We are indebted to Liz Craig and Jane Kitson and team who have alerted the community to this dire situation, which has not arisen overnight.

However, solutions seem years away and to be ‘‘community-led’’.

In the same week as Nobby’s letter was another resource consent proposal – a further 1000 cows, another water-take request, another discharge consent request.

Surely our community-elected representatives can put our community first and stop granting consents for more cows.

We are in a hole, but at the very least we can stop digging.

And then the community can really get behind working on the solutions, knowing that they have some chance of succeeding.

Chris Rance

Abridged – Editor