McInnes fights for community spirit

The Far North’s deputy Mayor is urging government ministers to change transport rules that have scuttled Opua’s popular dog swimming races, and may even threaten the future of Anzac parades.

Tania McInnes said last week that she feared small communities could give up organising public events, and the government risked being blamed for “slowly killing off community spirit”.

Last week Opua Primary School’s community regatta, an annual fundraiser dating back to 1981, was cancelled this year because of the cost of a required traffic management plan. Instead a gala will be held at the school on Saturday.

News that the long-running regatta and its main drawcard, the dog swimming races, had been canned sparked anger and disappointment, but also offers of support for the school. It also prompted Ms McInnes to contact ministers urging a law change, while FNDC chief executive Shaun Clarke, whose staff have to enforce the legislation, is preparing a submission to Local Government New Zealand.

Ms McInnes, whose daughter attends Opua Primary, called on Transport Minister Phil Twyford and Associate Minister Julie Anne Genter to review the impact of the Road Transport Act, which includes the requirement for temporary traffic management plans.

A plan for the Opua event would have cost more than $1000, about a third of the money the school PTA had hoped to raise.

She accepted there would have been good reasons behind the law, but doubted the consequences for small communities had been taken into account.

“These types of events are part of the fabric of what keeps our communities strong and connected,” she said.

“The last thing we need is our local communities not bothering because it all gets too hard.”

Another result would be that the government was seen as “slowly killing off community spirit”.

Ms McInnes understood that some Anzac Day parades that involved people marching on public roads were facing similar difficulties.

Last week’s story prompted a number of people to contact the school offering help, including a man who undertook to create a traffic plan without charge so the regatta could return next year.

Waitangi Treaty Grounds cultural manager Mori Rapana offered to stump up $1000 for a traffic plan, even though his children went to another school.

PTA chairwoman Katja Caulton said the school had been “completely overwhelmed” and was “super-happy” with the public response.

“Sometimes it’s good to bring these things to public attention. It shows how many lovely people there are in the community,” she said.

Council staff had also been helpful, but the law was not in their hands, she added.

While health and safety legislation was beefed up two years ago, placing greater liability on event organisers, the law requiring temporary traffic management plans at public events is at least a decade old.

Organisers of the Opua regatta had been unaware of their legal obligations until a few weeks ago.