Letters
Visits by Jehovah’s Witnesses
My home is my sanctuary - a sanctuary where I feel safe and comfortable. Before 10am on Saturday two Jehovah Witness women knocked on my door to spread their version of the God story. I felt offended and upset by this invasion of my privacy. I grew up in Golden Bay and one of the things I love about living here now is that as a community I think we are generally accepting, even embracing of a wide variety of interest groups. My suggestion to the Jehovah witness is to do as other interest groups do, and that is advertise a meeting in The GB Weekly for anyone interested in what they have to say to come along to. I suggest this could be a more effective recruitment method than disturbing people on a Saturday morning.
Colleen Smith
Local body elections
Aaarrrggghhhh. Major faux pas - just realised I called Victoria the “mayoress” in my haste to write a thank you letter to the editor. Please forgive my slightly rattled brain... must be post-election euphoria. Victoria my dear, you could never be mayoress but you’d make a classy mayor!
Martine Bouillir
Having now been duly sworn in as a councillor for Tasman District Council, I wish to convey my grateful thanks to all those good people that took the time to vote, and especially those who supported me personally.
I congratulate Martine on her excellent result; I am confident we will make a good combined team from Golden Bay. My commiserations to the unsuccessful candidates; however, I thank you all for helping to make the election a truly democratic process.
I will continue to apply myself and do my best in the interests of Tasman district and of course Golden Bay in this term.
Noel Riley
Noise issue
Cr Trevor Norris wants an apology for mistaking him for a NMCC member. I withdraw and apologise. Perhaps he and Mayor Richard Kempthorne would like to apologise to the victims of extreme noise spread across the district. People brought to tears in their own homes because of TDC’s failure to protect them. TDC’s failure to enforce the district plan noise rules. TDC’s failure to fulfill its obligations under the RMA. TDC’s failure to fulfill its obligations under the health act.
John Salmon
Paine Ford
Section 122; Crown Grant to James Kealey 1 March 1856 who conveyed it to Thomas Windle 5 Sept 1856 who conveyed it to Nathanial Paine 27 April 1862 and it still appeared to be in son Herbert Sidney Paine name in 1916.
Paine Ford would have been a busy place when Paine’s owned Section 122, this was a reasonable ford to cross the Takaka River when the river was low, but the Waingaro Ford into Kotinga was always known to be a dangerous ford. The train was passing by from 1884 to 1905. The building of the wooden bridge in 1894 would have been a big event. The coal mine tucked into the rock face. These river flats would have grown good timber that would have been taken out by wagon and train over these years.
A photograph itself can be evidence but the writing on it can be added later. We also know that journalists can copy each other so when they keep reproducing the same mistake people start to accept it. Names were often spelled wrong or in different versions, so this too made it hard to know the correct spelling at times.
Gerald Langford
Integrated Community Health Centre
I see urgent need for public clarifications of your proceedings.
The situation is: There is a report of the Integrated Management Group (IMG) proceeding with the integration project and seeking approvals, etc (GBW 1 October). The GB Weekly report includes: “The group’s planning focus over recent months has been gaining various legal approvals and agreements and finance and funding sources.”
But as I see the situation: The GBCH Trust has not been registered. IMG has no corporate existence.
So: Under whose corporate name/authority are approvals, agreements, resource consents and funding being sought? Who is paying for approvals and resource consents? These questions need urgent, and public, clarification, to ensure integration is transparent and soundly based.
Peter Foster
Response from John Peters, chairman IMG and CEO NMDHB: Thank you for your inquiry regarding under whose corporate name or authority approvals, agreements, resource consents and funding are being sought and who is paying for the approvals and resource consents.
You are correct that the trust has not yet been registered and IMG has no legal status. However the IMG is keen to ensure the momentum of the project is retained and so has been continuing to make progress on a number of fronts, without making any significant financial commitments or final decisions. I can report:
Approvals: A number of approvals are required from Government sources, including for the potential transfer of ownership of assets relating to the community hospital and questions as to what potential Treaty of Waitangi status these assets may have. These are being worked through with the Ministry of Health and other agencies.
Finance and funding: Initial enquiries have been made to potential funders and financiers on behalf of the project, some of which have been quite promising. We are currently exploring a range of ways of structuring the financial arrangements, based on the business case of the project. Again no commitments have been made.
Resource consents: While the project plans are by no means finalised, the IMG has decided the project is sufficiently advanced to apply for resource consent. The NMDHB has agreed to pay for the costs of an application, on the expectation it will be for a non-notified consent, which is far less costly and complex.
I realise it may appear some of these decisions are taking some time to achieve but there are interlinking issues that mean they are not straightforward and need to be carefully thought through.
No decisions or commitments can be entered into until the appropriate legal structures are in place, but because this can’t happen immediately, we are working to progress things.
Facility at Recreation Park
During a public meeting held at the Rugby Club Rooms on Thursday 14 October, many interested parties listened to Steve Mitchell giving an excellent presentation on how the Moutere Hills Community Centre was conceived, built and now operates. Mr Mitchell is chairman of the Moutere Centre, and senior advisor on sport development at Sport Tasman.
Moutere Hills is holding its fifth birthday, gets around 1000 visitors a week and sees an annual turnover of $120,000. It is a popular venue for weddings; guests are able to wine, dine and party in very plush surroundings. The centre hosts local events, art exhibitions and conferences, and is a popular venue for clubs to meet. This is in stark contrast to the lack of facilities currently available. The hockey club for example plays for hours each week, without even the use of a toilet.
The meeting heard that Moutere has about the same number of households as Golden Bay. Both are rural and geographically dispersed communities.
Mr Mitchell told the gathering how important it was for all interested parties to collaborate during the conception and design of such a facility. All Moutere’s user groups had come to meetings with wishlists that the group had worked through. Wherever possible these ideas were included in the plans; the proviso being that they were cost-effective and would be widely used. Mr Mitchell said that all parties would have to compromise, but the end result is something that benefits the whole community.
The Golden Bay group’s next meeting is on Thursday 11 November, at which time they would like all sporting, recreation and community groups to come with a wishlist of their own. Then the long process can begin to create Golden Bay’s version of Moutere Hills community centre.
Peter Blasdale
Poker machines in Tasman
Trevor Norris’s comments (GBW 15/10) regarding pokie machine numbers confirm the old adage of “lies, damn lies and statistics”.
Submissions were made to Tasman District Council for numbers to be capped at those presently in use and for licences to be cancelled as they are relinquished. Instead, the numbers set by the council allow for an additional 16 machines to be used.
Mr Norris referred to the minutes of the meeting as reference. Unfortunately, the minutes of the hearing held on 17 August and reconvened on 2 September posted on the TDC website are incomplete with the vital 2 September part missing at the time of writing.
Joe Bell
What a pathetic attempt to discredit me made by Cr Trevor Norris, who claims I was incorrect regarding pokies; but anyone can check the facts that 16 more pokies will be allowed.
When I first approached council with a well-prepared delegation presenting the benefits of providing safe conditions for cycling, Cr Trevor Norris loudly argued that we would need a “magic money tree“. He was visibly embarrassed when I informed him that there was $3.67M in the Transfund budget waiting for applications specifically for cycling facilities. I was shocked that TDC’s roading expert was so unaware of funding that could have benefited our region and so unwilling to listen to residents who had been asking for cycling/walking provision for years. I was also shocked that he was unaware of basic transport manual information.
Subsequently Cr Norris has been responsible for vast amounts of wasted rates by attempting to impose his last-century thinking onto the progressive Golden Bay community. We had to fight to get the Pohara cycle/walkway after rejecting the plans to widen the road. A similar rejected expensive plan was dumped on Collingwood after requests for a walk/cycleway.
Victoria Davis
Old library building
Grass does not provide an income. A new building would continue to provide funds for other community projects after the library was paid for.
Visitors enjoy our unique shops, etc, and as there are none empty, why wouldn’t the old library be rebuilt?
Jennie Morris
Collingwood Library charges
I would like to correct the cost of new books referred to in the article about the library last week. We do not charge to join, borrowing fee for taking out a new book is 50 cents and all other books are 20 cents, nothing to do with the first year of membership, as stated in the article.
Joan Johnson, secretary and treasurer
