Feeling the heat

Councillor Felicity Foy is attracting a lot of heat for being brazen enough to suggest that the council considers all of the important roading projects before deciding to spend $50 million-plus on three roads in the middle of Kerikeri. May I suggest another one? The council owns 715 bridges. In 2016 an inspection was done and a report written. A report that has never been presented to council. In the report, 15 bridges were rated 5, and a further 59 rated 4.

A 5 rating means a bridge in poor condition requiring replacement, and a 4 indicates that significant maintenance work is due.

The report expands on the meaning of condition 5 by saying that some of them are only being held together by rust. Or to quote: “[they] are only standing due to the residual sections of the steel culvert acting as support for soil arches which are supporting the roads above”. Rust. I saw a joke the other day. It said that in New Zealand they drive on the left side of the road. In the Far North we drive on what is left of the road.

I didn’t realise just how accurate that was.

Please - if this concerns you, make a submission to the FNDC long-term plan.