The case for higher roads subsidy

Pat Seymour

Opinion

Greetings, we have a full council meeting this Thursday with several meaty papers.

There is a paper recommending named commissioners to hear consents to develop Wharves 6 and 7 and the slipway for Eastland Port. The council has previously determined that independent commissioners will be used for all consents related to Eastland Group. Council is careful to ensure conflict of interest is avoided and so no accredited councillor commissioners sit on consents where GDC might have, or be seen to have, a material interest.

There is an update on the Managed Aquifer Recharge project (MAR). Consents have been granted for the stage 2 development of the trial but it will not proceed until full funding is in hand. Beyond a second successful trial, the paper seeks confirmation the council will remain the regulatory authority and consents or plan changes required for any future development will fall to any future applicant. Officers also seek approval to donate a small chlorinator unit no longer necessary to the MAR project to Hauora Tairawhiti to upgrade a community water supply under its control.

An application by ECT to meet the two- yearly review of trustee remuneration seeks to increase the pool for ECT board fees to $273,000. This is funded by ECT, but has to be council approved.

The largest at more than 110 pages is a comprehensive overview of the Integrated Transport Priority Plan (ITPP). The purpose of the ITPP, which arose from the Tairawhiti Economic Action Plan released in February 2017, is to develop the case for investment in transport solutions for the Tairawhiti region.

To quote the introduction to the document: “. . . the ITPP is a mixture of activities and measures that will improve the performance of both the state highway and local road networks as well as making a number of softer recommendations”. Something we all want to see happen! At the time of writing I have yet to fully read the document and I note it is for the council’s retrospective approval, so the document has a life already. It is immensely wordy and one can’t help wonder at the time spent to manage within such voluminous documents versus the practicalities of attending in some small way to the requests for service on our roading network!? However, we all have to realise that bureaucracy now exists in spades and for NZTA to make available more than a 60 percent subsidy on local roads, and 100 percent on the highways, then GDC officers and the Tairawhiti Roads entity have to comply with high level requirements of accountability.

We are seeking many millions of taxpayers dollars as a subsidy for the roads in our region. Mayor Meng and council officers have for several years been beating a path to Wellington seeking a higher level of subsidy for our roads. Council officers have spent many months and many hours preparing the case for an increased subsidy for roads serving the forestry sector. Let’s hope it is forthcoming.

There is a background paper on swimability of lakes and rivers in our region to meet the national policy statement (NPS) on fresh water management. We have only one lake that meets the size requirement in the NPS. More details on that from the Environment and Policy papers on the GDC website.

There is a comprehensive report from the chief executive covering all the major projects, financial projections to year end and the relationships she has been working with since the last meeting.

The papers in the agenda are far more comprehensive that this brief overview implies. Take a look online or call any councillor.