Crowds flock to Taranaki Regional Council freshwater plans drop-in sessions

The Stratford Taranaki Regional Council Freshwater Plan drop-in session drew a large crowd. Photo / Alyssa Smith

A large crowd gathered in Stratford’s Centennial Rooms on Thursday morning to learn more about Taranaki Regional Council’s freshwater plans.

The event, part of Taranaki Regional Council’s Freshwater Plan drop-in sessions, enabled people to get more information about the proposed changes to E. coli levels in the water, animal effluent systems, water allocation, how the changes would impact earthworks and other topics.

As part of the plan, there are new target levels of E. coli, sediment and nutrients in waterways and changes to what the limit should be for taking water from a waterway.

Jane Gilbert was one of the many people who attended the session. She wanted to learn more about the plans, specifically water allocation.

“They’re putting a water meter into my property so I’m interested in water. I think it’s important that the community knows what’s happening.”

Taranaki Regional Council environment quality director Abby Matthews said the drop-in sessions were valuable, allowing council staff to gain insight into what the community thought.

“We’ve had a lot of good, in-depth discussions with people, talking about what they like about the plan and the areas they think need work. This feedback enables us to work on our plan and change it to suit the community better.”

She said the feedback had been mainly positive.

“We’ve heard from people and seen some of our plans need work, but also from the feedback, we’ve noted there are some areas the community is comfortable. It’s great to meet people and we’re really pleased with the turnout.”

Each session had a good attendance rate, she said.

“We started with a hiss and a roar, with about 130 people showing up at our first session.

“Those numbers have dropped back down to about 50 per session but the Stratford session has been really busy.”