A casino for Kaikohe?

How might a casino go in Kaikohe? Or a suspension bridge from Paihia to Russell? Or wind turbines on the Hokianga dunes?

Those are just some of the ideas expressed on billboards created by the Far North District Council, not necessarily because they might be goers but to urge people to think about what they want, or don’t want, to see happen in the district over the next 35 years.

The project is the brainchild of deputy Mayor Tania McInnes, who described the billboards as deliberately provocative.

“None of these things are actually on the table, and I personally don’t want to see skyscrapers at the Kerikeri Basin, but people can be apathetic unless something affects their back yard. The aim is to get people talking,” she said.

The billboards promote ‘Our Voices Our Vision,’ an attempt to nail down Far Northerners’ priorities for the future. Although council-funded and -facilitated, it was not a council exercise, Ms McInnes added.

The first phase was to establish what people wanted, and didn’t want, by 2050. The second and more difficult phase would be working out how to achieve those aspirations.

The first of 20 workshops around the district were held last week. This week the Opua community, Kaitaia College, Switzer Residential Care residents in Kaitaia and Ngawha prison inmates will have their turn. The Stakeholder Reference Group set up last year includes iwi, business, conservation, police, health, education and transport representatives.

The resulting “district vision” would give the council long-term direction and make it less subject to the whims of politicians who came and went,” Cr McInnes said.

“It’s a long- term thing. Nothing will happen overnight. Once people get their heads around it they’re very positive. It’s generating a lot of thought,” she added.

The workshops and a public survey will wrap up at the end of this month, with the plan due to be adopted by the council in August, Cr McInnes saying the finished plan would also give the council more clout when lobbying central government because it would be able to show it had public backing.

The survey, and more information about the project, is at www.telluswhatyouwant.co.nz, with the first billboards due to go up at the Kerikeri Road/ SH1 roundabout today.

The project is based on the visioning exercise carried out in Paihia several years ago, setting the direction for that town’s transformation.