Covid-19 Delta outbreak: Access to food highlighted as key issue in Western Bay

Western Bay of Plenty District Council chief executive John Holyoake. Photo / George Novak

Access to food is the biggest problem arising for Western Bay communities hit by lockdown, local councillors have been told.

But it appears that previous experience with lockdown has resulted in swifter action to help those in need.

Western Bay of Plenty District Council's Performance and Monitoring Committee met virtually today

for the first time since the level 4 lockdown restrictions were reintroduced two weeks ago.

Council operation manager Kerrie Little told the committee that during the last lockdown "everything took so long to get help where needed".

This time around, providing support was faster, smoother and easier, she said.

Community resilience advisor Ben Wilson told councillors there was one issue that had arisen so far during this lockdown.

"It's food – the production and delivery of it is a certain priority at the moment," he said.

Despite this, Wilson said there were parts of the community doing "reasonably well".

"That's been demonstrated by the collaboration of the community service providers down there (eastern end of the district) but that's clear right across the district," he said.

The committee heard of community organisations such as The Daily Cafe in Te Puke, which was providing meals for those in need.

"We are not in great shape but we are committed to doing a lot better with good planning, good collaboration, with a clear view of how we want to come out of this resurgence and prepare for whatever may come."

Wilson's comments followed a presentation to the committee by finance manager David Jensen.

Councillor Margaret Murray-Benge asked Jensen what sense of financial pain there was in the community amid the lockdown.

Jensen responded: "We put procedures in place during the last lockdown that continue in terms of paying our creditors. And we continue to do that to get the cash circulating to the people who need it."

He said the council encouraged people struggling financially to talk to the council because "we are committed to being a good partner in that regard".

Chief executive John Holyoake said he had a "really good" catch-up with community organisations in recent days and things were going well so far.

"I'd suggest processes we are seeing are much, much stronger than they were in the previous lockdown," he said.

"I'd suggest also the resilience is higher."

The committee accepted Jensen's report and that of Little's Civil Defence Emergency Management update before moving on to other agenda items.

Last week, the Bay of Plenty Times reported Tauranga Community Foodbank experiencing more demand in the first two hours of the week compared to what it normally would in an entire day.

The foodbank was among those social agencies in the Bay of Plenty experiencing unprecedented demand as this lockdown began to bite for many.

Tauranga Community Foodbank manager Nicki Goodwin said at the time the demand had been flat out and Elmer Peiffer from Rotorua Whakaora said their supply was dwindling.