Saying no not heard

At the very first meeting that Taupo¯ District Council called to announce its intention to build its CAB office on Tongariro Domain, one of the first assurances council representative Mr King gave was that people would have opportunity to say no to the proposal. Yet the list of council’s CAB sites on the domain that consultants presented made no provision for a no to the CAB. I have gone through the online survey monkey tabulation of results numbering around 350 completely legitimate responses to each option to find if CAB presence on the domain is wanted.

For option A 212 say no. 69 say yes and 58 are undecided. For option B 202 say no and 81 say yes, with 50 undecided. For option C 209 say no, 77 yes, 61 undecided. For option D 212 say no, 62 yes, 55 undecided.

In general comments 90 say no, 72 yes, 28 undecided. The no CAB result is very clear and complies with legislation controlling recreational reserves, which states council must consult the Minister for permission to erect any structure on such a reserve. Places of work such as the CAB are forbidden. Council’s survey result is clear evidence of community opposition.

For reasons known only to the consultants in its “key principles and points raised” they have chosen to disregard the no responses and the promise Mr King made at the beginning that a no would be listened to. Elected council members should read the Reserves Act carefully. Development on the domain that follows the “principles” of the Act to develop recreation and leisure without the CAB is available so long as we take our time, do it properly, and can pay for it.

I don’t know how council thinks they can get away with this, an occupation on the domain forbidden under the Reserves Act, a majority no response to their survey, increased traffic on the domain forbidden in the district plan via their domain management plan. The pluses being a cultural centre, that could go ahead without the CAB. Vitalisation of the CBD for under an hour around 12pm as staff have lunch five days a week that could happen from Tu¯wharetoa St anyway. All to revive an idea that failed last time it was tried. They must think the Minister is very naive.