Tourist roading, Tarakohe cliffs and waste at board meeting
The Golden Bay Community Board meeting was held on Tuesday this week.
Public Forum
Local Government Bill. Penny Griffith spoke about the amendment to Local Government Bill. One of its provisions apparently allows councils to charge a targeted rate to fund the operation of community boards. Submissions are due on 18 June.
Emergency radio. Penny also said that the only radio station she can receive is Radio New Zealand National on 98.2 FM via the emergency services aerial on Mt Burnett. During the recent power cut the backup system failed, making emergency broadcasts unreceivable.
Cr Riley explained that the starter motor for the backup generator was being repaired.
Allan Vaughan supported Penny on the emergency radio power supply. “It’s been going on for years. Cr Riley and others have done great things for our community but someone must be responsible for making sure that a remote community is kept informed in case there’s a real emergency. Something’s got to be done about it. There are obviously factors that are not being addressed and there are parties that don’t rate it a high enough priority. I urge the board and the Mayor to apply pressure in the right areas.”
Tarakohe cliffs. Bob Butts spoke about the work being done in the quarry at Tarakohe and clarified that the only trees specifically protected on the Tarakohe cliffs are the rata trees, not other undefined trees.
“Whenever we have a period of reasonably intense activity, especially when we’re breaking down large boulders for protection work, the neighbours think we’re doing all sorts of things - because it’s very noisy,” said Bob. He then spoke about recent controversy surrounding the skyline.
“All we’ve done up above Staid’s Bay is make sure that nothing falls down on the road. Fulton Hogan cleared the area from Ligar Bay to the harbour and we’ve picked up from the harbour to the rata trees. It’s as clean as we can get it. We’re just carrying out routine safety as we have to do.”
Swiftsure Street. BJ White spoke again about the stormwater problems in Swiftsure St in Collingwood. Meetings have taken place, some involving most or all of the affected residents and some involving just one resident.
“Cr Borlase told me at the last board meeting that he was going to get some details of the meeting that took place involving only one landowner,” said BJ. “Work was done on the road and now we know that the work was done was at ratepayers’ expense and that no consents were obtained. The misinformation’s outrageous.”
In Cr Borlase’s absence, Cr Riley responded to BJ’s comments, saying that he had tried as recently as that morning to obtain the information BJ requested, but without success.
Mayor Kempthorne said that council staff were trying to resolve the stormwater issues, a report had been written and distributed, and a meeting would take place. He told the meeting: “The report doesn’t deal with the old work, who paid and so on.”
Board chair Joe Bell said “BJ has tried to do everything right. The request was made at the last meeting for information about the work that was originally done on the road. Part of the solution is to build an understanding and provide the information that is requested.”
Mr Kempthorne gave an undertaking that council utilities asset engineer, David Stevenson, who has all the information, will share it and work on a solution.
Board member Karen Brookes called for transparency and board member Carolyn McLellan warned council against covering things up. “Sometimes things have happened without as robust a process as there should have been. If you cover it up, people think that there’s more under cover than there really is. Get it out in the open. If we were sitting in BJ’s seat we’d be getting frustrated too.”
BJ said “In the meantime I wait. I have total gratitude for the work that the community board has put in, and to a lesser extent the council, but some people need to shape up.”
Freedom camping. The board considered asking for compliance monitoring and enforcement of freedom camping to be funded by Nelson Tasman Tourism.
Mr Kempthorne advised against this request. He and TDC CEO Paul Wylie had been to a South Island-wide meeting of mayors and CEOs at which freedom camping was a topic of discussion.
“We decided unanimously to send a remit to the Local Government New Zealand conference asking LGNZ to work on this issue with the Government to devise a nation-wide approach. Nick Smith and Rod Hide were there at various times and they were supportive of Government being involved. I wanted to let you know that that is going to followed up by LGNZ.”
Council community services manager Lloyd Kennedy said that a suggestion was going forward from staff to the annual plan process about things following the Gisborne council’s approach to freedom camping.
The board then resolved to write to Ministry of Tourism and LGNZ asking that they work together to address the negative impacts of freedom camping and requesting monitoring and enforcement funding from the tourism budget.
Takaka waste treatment plant. Council plans to upgrade the Takaka waste treatment plant to mitigate odour problems. They also plan to purchase more land to reduce the risk of flooding there.
Museum programmes. The board had previously challenged a decision to stop the “education outside the classroom” programmes at the Nelson Provincial Museum. With the assistance of a letter from Hon Nick Smith the decision had been reversed.
Student and family support. The board had also written to the Minister of Social Development, Paula Bennett, in support of the Golden Bay Community Workers’ student and family support position. The minister had replied, mentioning in detail some of the funding the community workers currently receive and raising some issues.
Board member McLellan suggested that the board “get back to her and address her issues one by one. We should work with the community workers on our reply, to initiate a dialogue.”
Tourist roading. The board had also written to Chris Auchinvole MP on the subject of the subsidy for tourist roads. He had replied to their question with a question of his own about the time of, and reason for, a change to the level of subsidy applied to Golden Bay’s tourist roads.
The board resolved to ascertain the information, send it to Mr Auchinvole and ask him to get his officials to verify it.
Neil Wilson
