District all stirred up over poultry matter

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Poor old Gordie doesn't know what he's started: bylaw reviews, council meetings and talk of rezoning parts of Rangitikei.

When Turakina was classed residential in the Rangitikei District Council's district plan in 2013, it brought the village under urban animal control bylaws, which placed restrictions on keeping certain animals that weren't previously in place.

"This relates to a rooster called Gordie who had lived in Turakina for years," Rangitikei Mayor Andy Watson said.

"There were no complaints about Gordie but one person looked up the district plan and said Gordie was not a permitted activity so Gordie had to go."

The Turakina community has since asked to be exempted from urban animal rules, a proposal the council has put out for consultation.

"Their preferred status would be to go back to a rural living zone," Mr Watson said.

It has also prompted discussion about the unintended effects of the new urban zoning of several small communities in the district.

"Inadvertently this urban classification has cut across what has been community practice that has been long standing," Councillor Angus Gordon said.

Mr Watson said making further changes to the plan would only create more problems.

Gordie's return to Turakina would be easily fixed by exempting him from urban animal control rules.

Submissions on that proposal closed yesterday (October 16).