Dannevirke Community Board raises concerns over clutter

Bylaws are under review at Tararua District Council. Photo / Paul Taylor

Problems of encroachment on Easton St need to be addressed, say Dannevirke Community Board members.

The concerns were brought up in discussion over the current bylaw review programme by Tararua District Council at the board’s October meeting.

Public consultation is now open and feedback on the Traffic and Road Use bylaw needs to be in by December 16.

Board member Ernie Christison asked where the public roadway on Easton St ended.

He says on the road down to the transfer station there are forklifts working on the side road and if it was a public road there needed to be a traffic management plan.

Board member Ron Wallace says with the encroachments from businesses operating along the road it was becoming narrow and needed addressing.

Tararua Alliance network manager Andrew Desmond says letters have been sent regarding the encroachment.

The current bylaws “don’t have any teeth”, he says, however, changes made in the review could give the council more power to enforce clean-up.

Board member Terry Hynes says the issues have been going on for a long time with stuff being dropped off that was cluttering up the footpath.

“We need to forge a way for a solution to a real issue which keeps on going. So I’d like to see some way of negotiating, working with those people down there.”

Board members were encouraged to make submissions on the proposed changes to the bylaw, with hearings due to take place early next year.

Rates rebate error

The council has been consulting on the proposed postponement policy for those impacted by the rates rebate direct debit error.

It was noted in the meeting that postponement is one of the tools the council can use to help people impacted by the error.

Twenty submissions have been received and hearings have been set for early November.

The council will deliberate on whether there are any changes or tweaks needed on the draft policy with a final version being presented to the council in mid-November.

Councillor Erana Peeti-Webber says council has been slowly working through everyone affected by the error, however, a small few were uncontactable due to details not being updated.

Tararua Community Youth Services

Funding cuts are looming for Tararua Community Youth Services.

Terry attended the service’s annual general meeting and while everything was going “really well” funding was an issue.

“They’re facing some big cuts in their funding, particularly in the areas of driver licence training.”

Wackrow Awards

A Dannevirke resident was concerned the Wackrow Memorial Youth Awards were not run this year and wrote to the board.

Ernie says he had discussions with some of the previous judges and a lot of people felt it should go forward with only three.

“We’re not doing much for the youth in town.”

The three Wackrow Memorial Youth Award winners in 2022, with judges. From Left: Claire Chapman (judge), Mayor Tracey Collis, Toby Walker, Charlotte Patu, Josiah Max (award winners) Pat Walshe (Dannevirke Community Board Chairman), Sergeant Gary McKernon (judge).

Three nominations were sent in this year and it was felt they deserved to have some of the limelight.

“It’s our duty to continue with it and make sure it happens this year.”

Terry says there was extensive publicity done for the awards including visits to the local schools but there was very little response.

While there were three nominations, more than three were needed to conduct the awards.

He says he spoke to the person who did the nominations and he was in favour of not proceeding.

“I think the right thing was done.”

Terry says there is a policy that if it was less than four nominations, they had to pull the pin and that was what happened.

“It wasn’t for the lack of trying to do something about it. We worked really hard to get people to nominate.”

He says the feedback he had was that it is “exceptionally difficult” to get people to nominate young people for the award.

Christmas parade

The Dannevirke Chamber of Commerce has been busy organising and preparing for the Christmas parade.

Terry says there is a lot of promotion with trying to drum up local business support for the parade, which is set for December 7.

Dannevirke's Christmas parade is set for December 7.

It was noted that a letter had been sent to the community board querying their budget and a previous commitment to helping fund costs for the Christmas parade.

In 2015, the then community board had made a recommendation or agreement to pay for the traffic management on the day and it was understood it was intended to be an ongoing payment.

That board had also agreed to relinquish the organisation of the parade to the Chamber of Commerce.

However, board members were told that a community board does not have the ability to commit the council to ongoing funding and only has what funding is provided by the council.

Erana reminded board members that times have changed since 2015 and the council does not have the funding to commit.

The board was yet to meet to decide its budget and what it would support with the funding, which was cut following the adoption of the long-term plan.