Connecting with community

Waikato Regional Council (WRC) recently held a workshop in Kawhia to gain feedback on the establishment of a Harbour and Catchment management plan for Kawhia Harbour.

This meeting was the first of several that are planned over the next few months as part of the process of working constructively with farmers, stakeholders and the community to improve the health and wellbeing of the three main harbours and their associated catchments on the West Coast.

This engagement process is about understanding peoples concerns, their aspirations and their ideas, identifying the issues that are causing degradation of our catchment and harbour environments, and in turn developing responses to address these.

These plans are non-statutory, meaning they do not direct or require anyone to do or undertake a particular action, however they do provide a very effective way of both informing the community of what is happening, what needs to happen, what is planned, and in turn enabling a strategic and coordinated approach.

This initial consultation part of the process is about developing a vision for the future of our unique west coast environments.

Some of the workshops are specifically targeted at specific sector groups, such as the recent one at Kawhia which was primarily targeted at some of the bigger landowners, however it is intended that all sectors of the community will have an opportunity to attend workshops and input into the process over the coming months.

Keep an eye on the WRC facebook page, and your local newspaper for future consultation days.

To find out more on what harbour and catchment management plans are all about, you can search for harbour and catchment management plans on the WRC website.

In addition, there is also an online survey at waikatoregion.govt.nz/westcoast-survey

As well as holding specific consultation days with different sectors, WRC will also be holding information days at Kawhia, Aotea and Raglan over the summer, which are an opportunity for people to give their feedback on the development of these plans.

Following on from last months column, Waikato Regional Council is taking the opportunity early on in this new triennium to refresh their strategy and vision.

This is a helpful exercise as it gets new and returning councillors to consider a range of possibilities for the projects that are to be focused on over the next three years.

The power of clear strategic thinking is demonstrated when the council has clarity about the work it will do over the next three years and importantly the work that will not be done.

● The areas of focus for this council will be; Community Connections, we have a range of places, cultures, ages and we need to connect with each other and to services, recreation, education and jobs;

● Sustainable infrastructure, Flood protection and drainage reduce the impact of floods safeguard lives and property enables production and protects services;

● Coastal and Marine, we have 1000 km of coastline and 1 million Ha of marine area for leisure, sport and business. Coastal and marine areas need our care;

● Climate, One of our biggest challenges adopting changes early will build resilience and allow us to respond to climate change;

● Water, Our most precious resource, we work with a large number of organisations to understand and deliver to their needs;

● Biodiversity, we’ve lost 75 per cent of our wetlands and 200 species of native plants and animals are under threat. We work with communities and landowners to turn around this decline.

The government has had an impact on the strategic thinking with the announcement of the Action for healthy waterways a discussion document on national direction for our essential freshwater. Fortunately the extensive work that has gone into Plan Change 1 has put our Regional Council in a good space and we are well ahead of the thinking compared to other Regional Councils.

The significant volume of work to decide on the committee structure and members is nearing an end with the new committees now agreeing their new terms of reference ready for getting underway in the new year.

This early part of the triennium is also dedicated to bringing new councillors up to speed with their roles and responsibilities as elected representatives.