Feedback sought on Annual Plan

Central Hawke’s Bay District Council will release its 2019/20 Annual Plan Consultation Document for for public discussion on Monday.

The document was adopted by the council on Thursday, February 28, at its council meeting.

It will be available for the community for feedback, review and consultation from Monday.

The document continues the focused investment in water infrastructure and includes a proposed rates increase of 4.36 per cent for the 2019/20 year — 0.32 per cent above that projected in the 2018 Long Term Plan.

There are four changes from the Long Term Plan 2018-28 that the council is seeking community feedback on.

One of those is a proposal to provide a suspensory loan of $250,000 from the Rural Ward Funds to Water Holdings CHB Ltd to enable it to work with partners to identify water security options.

Feedback is also sought on the development of an Environmental and Sustainability Strategy. Four priorities — managing impact on waterways, increasing recycling and reducing waste to landfill, conserving water, and managing for climate change — are identified in the strategy. The council wants to hear any other ideas that should be included.

The third key area is managing the impacts and affordability of new rateable values set in late 2018 for CHB. Changes to the revenue and financing policy are proposed to improve the fairness in relation to the impact the new rating values have across the district.

The fourth change is a proposal to establish a regional Disaster Relief Trust between the five Hawke’s Bay local authorities. Led by the Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Group, the trust would allow donations to be received immediately as a charity, should a major event occur. This would also allow for funds to be distributed as quickly as possible.

Mayor Alex Walker said the consultation document reflects on the great work the district had achieved over the past 12 months.

“While there is lots we have achieved, we really encourage the community to have their say on the proposals in the Annual Plan, as we continue to focus on building a thriving Central Hawke’s Bay.

“The Annual Plan is a proposal, and we look forward to the many conversations and hearing the views that our community has on these proposals”.

The document will soon be available on the council’s website shortly and from council offices and libraries from March 18. A copy of it will be included in the CHB Mail next Tuesday, and there will be opportunities for the community to make written submissions and to meet with councillors and staff on the proposals. People have until 5pm on Friday, April 12, to have their say.