Councillor's Corner - August 2013

With elections coming closer, a little reflection upon what has happened in our district in the last 3 years Roading has had a lot of activity, the Spedding road link, the Porowini Ave extension, the new Lower Hatea River crossing all have assisted in reducing congestion.

Significant expenditure on waste water works, upgrading of the Kioreroa waster water plant plus the Hatea and Okara pump stations preventing uncontrolled waste water spills.

Smaller items, but important nevertheless have been the John Street car park refurbishment, revitalized town basin, the heritage art trail, the Hub and the Canopy bridge.

With the completion of the new bridge the construction of the walk/ cycleway around the inner Harbour is now under construction plus seven new sportsfields are under development including a needed third turf for Hockey.

Last year our Capex spend was 90% on hard infrastructure, 10% on soft which includes social infrastructure such as parks and community services.

After successfully hosting the RWC in 2011 we now also have 4 games in the under 20FIFA World Cup games.

On a local level we have had road and safety improvements, the Sandspit ownership transfer,walkways upgrades and the Tutukaka Marina boat ramp reconstruction to name a few.

But there is more that needs to be done, the car parking issue around the boat ramp in summer, the construction of more walkways ( including making access to the Mermaid Pools safer, with appropriate signage to acknowledge history and safety issues), the sea wall and skatepark in Ngunguru , and progressing the cycleway proposal from our Ratepayers association.

Our submission on the recreational and commercial fishing limits focusses on the importance of fishing on our coast, and the need to get balanced proportions in cuts if needed from both sectors.

The economic benefit and opportunity from an enhanced fisheries in the sport sector is too often overlooked, the value to our economy of a fish caught by a visitor compared by the commercial sector is many fold more and should be better acknowledged and taken into account when we are just looking at the economics of this proposal.

With larger planes (Q 300) now flying twice a day into Whangarei, which will increase from February to four times a day, we are getting better connected to the rest of the world with prices coming down to a more realistic level .

The next three years will see the completion of our Integrate Transport Strategy, continued waste water plant upgrades, water projects to ensure drought resilience, the Town Basin car park to park conversion, upgrades of coastal structures, CBD "sense of place" improvements and a lot more positive projects.

The Tutukaka Coast PolarBear festival organized by Tutukaka Coast Promotions has been very successful and no doubt this annual event will grow bigger every year. The timing is fantastic, when business activities are at a annual low, this event injects a "taste of summer" and a strengthened community.

Well done to everyone involved!