Roads and council amalgamation have taken up most of my time in the last month.
With successive weather events our rural roads are fast deteriorating – at a pace that we simply can’t match with our limited funds.
This is not an issue we face alone – many rural councils are in the same position, with a small ratepaying base and a large road/bridges network.
Although some may be delighted the Government is going to impose council rates caps, SWDC spending is overwhelmingly on infrastructure so the policy is a blunt instrument and presents some terrible dilemmas. The safety of road users and access for locals are paramount, but incredibly difficult financially – especially if council income is constrained.
One example is Whakatomotomo Rd. We’ve had good engineering advice and are working with residents, but it’s a huge challenge. We recently installed a chicane in an endeavour to control heavy vehicles and stop non-essential traffic, but the gate was stolen within 48 hours. This is pretty disappointing under the circumstances – if you know someone who’s acquired said gate, we’d like to know!
Talking of traffic, NZTA have confirmed the impending reduction in speed limit to 50kmh on Kitchener Street at the end of SH53. And if you’re traveling to Wellington note the same will apply at the southern end of Featherston (and on SH2 in Upper Hutt between Te Marua and Brown Owl, where they’re also installing speed cameras that calculate a vehicle’s average speed).
As for amalgamation – well you have all read about it and social media is alive with comment. If you want to know the actual detail of the combined Wellington-Wairarapa proposal, you can find it on our website.
I know some believe that those of us who supported the wider regional option completely ignored public views. Not true. Our council invited our 9,000 adult residents to participate in an opt-in survey online and 450 replied.
We anticipated strong support for a standalone Wairarapa Unitary Council (probably the initial preferred option of councillors) and we weren’t wrong, with 286 people wanting “most decisions made as close as possible to communities”. But the most important issues were “essential infrastructure delivered in the most cost-effective way” (363 people) and “financial sustainability” (350).
Unfortunately, the evidence is that the standalone Wairarapa model will certainly add more to our rates – possibly up to 16%, which in my view is not affordable. This is because the services provided by GWRC (including rail and other areas) are subsidised by money other parts of the region. We would be responsible for raising that money in a standalone council.
My focus now is to gain agreement for a region-wide model that allocates as much decision-making as possible to the local community level. So far that’s looking good.
Very soon the Government will tell us which model Wairarapa will be in, then we will start negotiating the detail.
P.S. One last thought for this month – we know that avian flu has arrived in our district. Fortunately (at time of writing) no mass mortality events so far, but we need vigilance. Our eggs and chicken meat are still safe to eat but, if you’re out and about, be alert and stay away from sick or dead wildlife. Keep pets away too.
If you do see three or more sick or dead wild birds in a group, report it immediately to MPI.
