No formal consultation on WDC Annual Plan

Whangarei District Councillors hope no formal Annual Plan consultation will lead to better public engagement.

Formal consultation over Whangarei District Council's 2017-18 Annual Plan has been scrapped, with councillors hoping they get more public buy-in over the Long Term Plan as a result.

At last Thursday's meeting, councillors voted to not hold a formal consultation process on the annual plan, as it contained "no planned significant or material changes from the Long Term Plan" and had already benefited from public engagement through the LTP process in 2015.

Every three years WDC creates a 10-year LTP, which contains three years of short-term projects and expenses and the ticking over of regular services, as well as seven years of projects in principal.

WDC used to consult on its annual plan - the yearly snapshot taken from the LTP - but is no longer required to do so under the Local Government Act 2002.

Whangarei Mayor Sheryl Mai said council had reviewed the proposed Annual Plan work programme and found no planned significant or material changes from the Long Term Plan.

Far North District Council and Tararua, Central Hawkes Bay, Tasman and Matamata-Piako district councils had also scrapped the annual process.

WDC would still prepare, adopt and make publicly available the 2017-18 Annual Plan and people wanting to discuss the plan could contact WDC or a local councillor, who would be discussing the plan at council meetings.

The upcoming year featured projects such as a new freshwater treatment plant close to Whau Valley Dam, the creation of a new park by the Canopy Bridge, the Laneway extension down James St, continued improvements at the Loop, and the search for the best options for a new council building.

Works would also include the $4.4 million Tarewa Park underground wastewater storage and treatment tank and $2m for Stage One of the Hikurangi wastewater system upgrade.

"We still have an obligation to openly provide detailed information to the community about our programmes, expenditure and income (including rates) and nothing will change about that," said Ms Mai.

Public engagement would begin in mid-2017, with the formal process starting in March 2018. The 2018-28 LTP would be adopted in June, ahead of council's 2018/19 financial year which started in July.

Last year was the first in which WDC did not have to consult under the Local Government Act 2002, but it volunteered to do so, with community engagement events, a consultation document, and collating, summarising, considering and responding to submissions.

In last week's meeting some councillors objected to the change, including Phil Halse, who said the process would leave council subject to "backdoor politics".

Councillor Crichton Christie said the annual process allowed members of the public to "express concerns about issues".

Meanwhile, councillor Trisha Cutforth said she feared it would set a precedent for a slippage of public engagement.

However, those seeking to bring projects, campaigns, concerns, issues and requests to council could still do so, by contacting local councillors.