Federated Farmers hosts candidates
Election hopefuls talk issues at public meeting
Te Awamutu branch of Federated Farmers hosted Waipā mayor and Waikato Regional Council candidates at a Q&A on Tuesday evening. All four mayoral hopefuls were in attendance, Jim Mylchreest, Susan O’Regan, Bernard Westerbaan and Chris Woods, as well as Stu Kneebone, Barry Quayle and Judith Sherriff for the King Country Waipā Waikato Regional Council electorate. Clyde Graf sent an apology and a statement to be read.
Also present were Te Awamutu / Kihikihi ward council candidate Lou Brown and Pirongia-Kakepuku ward council candidate Clare St Pierre.
With apologies to the latter two candidates, I will concentrate on questions posed to potential mayors and regional councillors.
The first question was: How will we protect our elite soils from urban development?
Jim and Susan pointed to work council had already undertaken in the Future Proof Plan to protect the land. They both said it was a balancing act between the pressure for more housing and protecting fertile land.
Bernard believed we should protect elite land, but predicted we will have stormwater problems in the future if we intensify too much.
Chris said we needed to be extra careful with our farmland because Te Awamutu and Cambridge basically exist to support the rural sector, and
without it they would decline.
Judith and Barry agreed councils needed to push back against developer pressures and look after our lands.
Stu saw another problem, that of reverse sensitivity if urban encroached too much into the rural sectors, and said careful planning was needed to avoid it.
Farmers wanted to know what could be done about inequitable rates, which meant they were paying more than urban folk, but getting less for their money, plus what would be one project would they like to spend money on?
Everyone agreed rating was inequitable, but said it was the only system available and those already
in office said councils tried to use other means to make them as fair as possible.
No one could see an easy fix, but Jim did believe councils should get a share of the GST take to help their coffers.
Susan reminded everyone that one pocket might be the ratepayer, and the other the taxpayer, but it was the same person and one way or another we will still be paying.
In terms of a project for expenditure, Susan, Bernard and Judith believed improvements to roading should be high on the list, especially rural roads.
Chris said it was well known he wanted a third bridge for Cambridge to ensure the town could grow and continue to prosper.
Stu and Barry said the biggest issue