How’s your summer been? Since Council returned from holidays last month, there’s been a lot going on, both negative and positive.
Cyclone Hale was one such surprise, bringing with it a nasty sting in its tail for our eastern coastline. Several roads were closed by flooding and slips, most notably White Rock and Tora roads. It was terrible timing for Tora, as there were tourists there and a music festival imminent.
I particularly want to thank Fulton Hogan and our roading team Ruamāhanga Roads, a number of whose staff came back from holiday to help make Tora Road accessible again. The enormity of the slip cannot be under-estimated – more than 125 truck-loads of material were taken away.
One thing that impeded the immediate start to work was the need to wait for a large excavator which arrived the following day. Work by keen locals certainly helped to open up immediate access but there was a lot more work that followed, including an assessment by engineers. As it was, all went very well and two days later we only had to ask drivers to take extreme care. We can only hope the weather gives us all a break now.
One unexpectedly positive aspect of the Tora and White Rock events was that it gave our emergency management incident team a chance to put its system to the test. There was much good liaison work, and the East Coast Rural Support Trust has been funded by Government to help co-ordinate the clean-up. The trust is helping communities co-ordinate practical assistance to farmers and growers, and can also be an advocate with banks and insurers – and help with solar panel fencing units.
If you need assistance or want to volunteer, please call Rural Support on 0800 787 254. If you’re a smaller landholder who is not commercial but still needs help, please call Civil Defence at 0800 239 247.
Some of you may be wondering why the 2021/22 Annual report hasn’t been tabled or published. We provided an update on our website to say that Audit NZ is yet to complete its full audit of the report due to resourcing constraints. They assure all councils impacted by this that they will be aiming to complete all outstanding audits by 31 March. Our Council plans to schedule an extraordinary meeting in April to adopt the Annual Report.
an international Dark Sky Reserve. This will bring some wonderful benefits, including more tourism and, most importantly, protection of our wonderful night sky. The Council altered the district plan’s lighting requirements in order to aid the Wairarapa Dark Sky Association’s bid, and we are over the moon for them.
That’s all from me this month. Ngā mihi Harry Wilson chief Executive Officer SWDC
