Meeting with the locals last night was an eye opener. First, the startling amount of apathy in our communities. People are so used to being ignored that they don’t even bother having their say these days. Second, that there are still a few key families in each community quietly caring and pushing things along. And third, that there are some pressing concerns that need addressing 'now' along with clear future planning to cater for the tourism future of Opononi and Omapere. No one wants to replicate a Paihia over here...
Opononi residents should be worried about water storage or the lack thereof. Fools who say we should be tapping rivers in the area need to be reminded that in a drought (which is when we will need a back up supply), all the rivers are drying up too..... Storage is the key.
Cemetery? Local Pakanae residents know of the lack of space in the Maori urupa and the pressure the tribes are under. This is the type of thing that we take for granted these days... At the moment people choose between Pakanae and Waimamaku. This needs thought and consultation at a community board level. An Opononi cemetery?
Sewerage. I will make it my goal to ensure that we know exactly what capacity our sewerage is at. If it is around 80% it needs to attract the top development charge on consents. So far all sewerage discharge is meeting NRC requirements. What does this mean? and how clean is it? If it is as clean as they say (almost drinkable) then lets prove this to people and educate our communities about it because knowing the quality is good and believing it is vital to the future of any sewerage system. If it isn't up to standard then let’s stop wasting time and money talking about it and put in place a system that works.
Development contributions for rural consents: Should a person building in Waimamaku (or similar) pay the full contribution for parking, sewerage, water, etc? We all agree that eventually everyone needs to visit a service town and park etc but should they pay as much as someone who is building in Kaikohe or Kerikeri, who have street lighting, footpaths on both sides of the road, rubbish collection from the end of the drive, sewerage and water pressure? Yes we should all contribute, but this needs to be looked at and made to reflect the current capacity of water and sewerage still available. The current development contribution is flawed as in some cases that contribution may exceed the value of the building sought. All development contributions need to be examined in line with service capacity and what is the tipping point to that community!
Some thoughts......
Blog website managed by Les King and his campaign team. All posts written and published by Les King Candidate for Councillor in the Western Ward for the Far North District Council.
Blog website managed by Les King and his campaign team. All posts written and published by Les King Candidate for Councillor in the Western Ward for the Far North District Council.
I've glad you have mentioned that water dries up and droughts do occur, storage of water is the key, perhaps the government should look into subsidising water tanks for communties in areas which are suspectible to drought. Then again it would be bad business encouraging the public to collect something that falls from the sky for free, it's much smarter to go to a store and pay for it.
ReplyDeletePersonally I think that the Hokianga could be much more than just a tourist attraction, we have the people and the community to be leaders in every field imaginable, we just don't know it yet.
There has been so much theift in the district recently its is shocking, Police are obviously stretched. I recently had friends visiting from Pukekohe, their van was broken into while they were here, of course nobody wants to return to Hokianga if that is what they can expect, a few bad apples need snuffing out in this town, we've tolerated locals who seem to think it is their right to take what they like cause this is'their town'. Bring back the stocks I say! Humiliation is probably our best an cheapest method of dealing to these rodents!
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