Question for the mayor
New Plymouth District Council Mayor Neil Holdom stated (Mayoral candidates Daily News, Friday September 27) that if his council had not backed the Yarrow Stadium upgrade it risked taking on a facility with a $4.5 million debt and losing 22 per cent of upgrade costs from central and south Taranaki ratepayers.
How thoughtful of him to ease upgrade costs from his ratepayers and off-loading the burden on to central and south Taranaki ratepayers. His statement also raises the issue of whether he and councillors questioned whether their ratepayers would have preferred meeting the $4.5 million debt rather than the much higher debt for the upgrade.
He further stated that if the NPDC had not backed the stadium upgrade plan he suspected ‘‘it could lead to a significant deterioration of our relationship with the TRC.’’ Mayor Holdom should specifically state just how, why and in what way this would happen.
Finally, apart from Mayor Holdom, could someone please explain how the TRC with primary responsibilities for water, soil, erosion, pollution, civil defence emergencies and transport et al took on or was landed with the whole sorry saga of the Yarrow Stadium.
Just how does the upgrade of a stadium and grounds for a particular and dwindling support for the sport of rugby fall within those areas of responsibilities?
Helen Pickford, Eltham Anyone wishing to make a complaint to the New Zealand Media Council should first put it in writing to the editor. If not satisfied with the reply, complainants should then write to The Secretary, New Zealand Media Council, Box 10 879, Wellington, including a clipping of the disputed article and copies of the correspondence. Letters are welcome, but writers must provide their name, address and telephone number as a sign of good faith – pseudonyms are not acceptable. So that as many letters as possible can be published, each letter should be no more than 250 words. We reserve the right to edit letters for length, sense or legal reasons, and on grounds of good taste. Please send your letters to: The Editor, Taranaki Daily News, PO Box 444 New Plymouth 4340; fax on (06) 7586849; or email to editor@dailynews.co.nz.