Resident steps in to protest

By MIKE MATHER in Rotorua
You can't put a hole where a hole doesn't belong, Okawa Bay resident Michael Gill says.

To make his point Mr Gill yesterday stood in the path of a digger working on the Rotorua District Council's eastern sewerage scheme.

Mr Gill stepped into the hole being dug to protest on behalf of his neighbour Katie Waaka, who had only recently moved to the area.

Ms Waaka was at work when the digging began and had not been told of the council's plans.

She had asked him to intervene on her behalf before the work was underway.

He was also protesting about what he said was the "unfair" amount local residents were being forced to contribute to the scheme.

Mr Gill said that while he and his fellow members of the Okawa Bay Residents Group did not object to the sewerage scheme itself, they were incensed that the amount they had to pay towards the project had doubled to about $6000, from a figure originally quoted by former district engineer Paul Sampson.

The group were also concerned that the Duxton Hotel, which produces about 50 percent of the sewage flowing into the bay, would be making too small a contribution towards the cost of the project.

Neither Ms Waaka nor the district engineer Nico Claassen returned Daily Post calls yesterday.

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