Long wait for action on flooding drains

IT will be well after Christmas before people in Masterton whose homes were inundated with floodwater or sewage will be told what the district council plans to do to fix the problems.
Council chief executive Wes ten Hove told councillors at a meeting last night a review of reticulation systems and their performance should be ready by February or March 2007.
Councillor Brent Goodwin, who received nearly 300 written complaints from ratepayers about drainage issues in the wake of the July floods, said such a long wait for an official report on the issue was outrageous.
Mr Goodwin had earlier complained at last night's meeting that it had taken the council 3? weeks to write to Cockburn Street residents telling them they had been dropped from the work programme this year because the council wanted to look at the total problem facing Masterton rather than separate neighbourhoods.
Cockburn Street was identified by council staff in 1970 as an area in need of attention.
Mr Goodwin, clutching a copy of the letter sent to Cockburn Street residents by the council, said he had a "horrible feeling" council action on the town's drains would be "stonewalled" if he didn't keep asking for information and financial details.
"I want to see the cleaning and flushing budget increased by 25 per cent and the capital works programme for upgrading stormwater pipes moved from 2012 to next year," he said.
But Mayor Bob Francis told Mr Goodwin it would be totally premature to discuss financial implications until the officers' reports were completed.
Mr ten Hove said he thought it was had been made clear earlier in the meeting when discussing the annual report that if important infrastructural work were needed to be done, the council would do it.
"You have to have some optimism and confidence that officers will do so, if the work needs to be done," he said.
Mr ten Hove had presented to the council a three-page report detailing priorities council was dealing with. "The priorities reflect the allocation of management time when demands are in conflict", the report said.
In order of importance, the stormwater review was placed fourth behind the urban sewerage upgrade, the Riversdale sewerage treatment project and the Wairarapa combined district plan, currently out in draft form of public submissions.
Number five in priority is the Wellington regional strategy, then community safety initiatives, infrastructure studies, Wairarapa council's co-operation initiatives and the Queen Elizabeth Park development.
"All projects are progressed as resources allow, however management time is prioritised to the above," the report said.