Consultation expos gauge views
Views wanted on future of district’s water assets
Tararua District Council’s annual plan and Three Waters were the main topics of discussions at an expo held this month. The expo, in Norsewood, was one of several the council has been holding throughout the district, with another one on April 19 at The Hub in Dannevirke, and one in Pongaroa on April 28.
A Facebook live event was also held so residents who were unable to attend the expos could still hold a discussion with the council’s leadership team.
Representatives from the Dannevirke Ratepayers and Residents association went along and were able to have a good discussion with council chief executive Bryan Nicholson on matters including Three Waters, the Dannevirke dam and council’s growth strategy.
Mayor Tracey Collis also talked about the Communities 4 Local Democracy, which was proposing an alternative approach to the Government’s mandate on Three Waters.
Tararua was one of 32 councils that had joined the action group, which hoped to work with central government on a better plan for water assets.
Collis said she wanted to encourage people to get involved in the district strategy by either coming to the expos or the live event or making submissions to the annual plan.
She said she was keen to hear from people on several topics.
One of the major topics was the recent proposed rates increase, which was set at 11.37 per cent for the 2022-23 financial year.
Collis said she knew how difficult it was at the moment with costs going up everywhere, but if people had ideas where council could cut costs, or improve efficiencies, they were welcome to submit those ideas.
The district strategy also included reviews of the water supply bylaw, which would set the direction for the future of water in the Tararua.
Housing was also another issue on the table, looking at what the community as a whole wanted and to ensure there was enough housing that was also affordable as the district continued to grow.
Collis said the council was also keen to engage with residents on a library strategy, looking at the future of the district’s libraries.
She said part of that was looking at how people used the libraries and whether changes needed to be made in terms of what services each library delivered.
Other issues being discussed in the annual plan were the dog control bylaw, enforcement policies and gambling.
Collis said gambling was one of those topics she was keen to engage with the community on.
Overall, she said the super consultation expos had been designed to allow councils to engage with residents to get feedback on where Tararua district was headed in the future.
Submissions close on May 10.