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From local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
A $600,000 spend on a Hokitika playground and a lack of realism are common concerns among the six candidates vying for election to the Westland District Council's Northern Ward.
Voting is now open in the byelection, which comes just months … View moreFrom local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
A $600,000 spend on a Hokitika playground and a lack of realism are common concerns among the six candidates vying for election to the Westland District Council's Northern Ward.
Voting is now open in the byelection, which comes just months after the three-yearly local body elections.
Asked what the issue of concern for voters was, most candidates preferred to talk more broadly about what the council should be focused on.
First timer Charley Cowie, of Stafford, noted the ward had about 50% of the rateable value for the whole district and it was clearly ''going ahead''.
A vote for him would help him ''represent everyone'' in the district and he was reluctant to pin down a common concern.
He cited the collective effort to restore the historic Stafford Cemetery as an example of what could be achieved by ''getting the community working better together''.
''At the end of the day, I'm not there to represent [only] the Northern Ward. At the end of the day, I don't need this job - if people think I will make a good councillor, good on them.''
Another first time candidate Patrick Phelps, a former journalist and now champion of the West Coast mineral industry, said council management and governance had got out of step with ratepayer expectations, while the rating burden burgeoned.
With a shortage of housing stock in Westland, relative to population size, the council seemed to be inhibiting supply rather than being an enabler.
Freeing up the council to get back to its core business would be his focus, including the council ''exiting a lot of the commercial enterprises it is involved in''.
''How long are you waiting for council to process a consent or whatever?'' Phelps asked.
While direct accountability for northern concerns was needed, ''I'm not a particularly parochial person''.
''I do think there is a case for wards - you could easily be forgiven if you are in Otira to think the council does not take account,'' he said.
Flow Ir Inn said they were looking at the macro picture and how the council operated for everyone, including the rates strike.
''To be honest, my main focus is to get costs down . . . We can't really spend more money until we get costs down.
''Anyone who lives on the Coast knows our council is spending lots of money on things that they don't need to be spending on.''
The $600,000 playground was a case in point, Flow Ir Inn said.
New Kaniere resident and first time candidate Euan Mackenzie said voter feedback suggested widespread worry about the council accessing funds for projects which were then ''frittered away''.
He preferred to see the council act as a positive facilitator of the local economy.
Its key responsibility was for citizens to access employment and the basic need for housing, education, health and youth services so they could get on with life, Mackenzie said.
Perennial candidate Jacquie Grant said a lot was at stake for the Northern Ward.
''As I've said on my election stuff, I'm there to represent the ward first and foremost,'' Grant said.
She cited community issues at both Ross and Kumara which had been festering and neglected by the council - and''Hokitika-centric'' spending.
Again, the $600,000 proposed spending on a new playground in Hokitika when the town was already rich with accessible facilities needed to be brought into line.
''We've got to get real,'' Grant said.
She also claimed some Northern Ward voters were ''incensed'' at a system where the next highest polling candidate last October - herself -was not brought up the list when the seat was vacated.
Nelson Lakes resident and Money Free Party advocate Richard Osmaston said after running for six mayoralties inthe South Island in October, as well as in the Hamilton West byelection, he did not have much in reserve this time.
However, the cost of living was probably the main issue in the Northern Ward ''keeping most people awake at night - the fact they are going backwards''.
Sir Ashley Bloomfield was New Zealand’s Director-General of Health from June 2018 to July 2022 and became a familiar figure as the public face of the health response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
His vast career experiences over the last 25 years in public policy and health leadership include … View moreSir Ashley Bloomfield was New Zealand’s Director-General of Health from June 2018 to July 2022 and became a familiar figure as the public face of the health response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
His vast career experiences over the last 25 years in public policy and health leadership include being based at the World Health Organization in Geneva, working on non-communicable disease prevention and control with a global focus.
Join us for a morning with Sir Ashley Bloomfield as he shares insight into his career and the challenges he faced during uncertain times.
Time: Wednesday 8 February, 10.30am
Location: Online.
From local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
A stop-gap suggestion by the West Coast Regional Council five months ago to donate stockpiled rock to plug the Domett Esplanade seawall at Cobden is moving at a snail's pace.
With the storm season looming, plugging low points in the … View moreFrom local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
A stop-gap suggestion by the West Coast Regional Council five months ago to donate stockpiled rock to plug the Domett Esplanade seawall at Cobden is moving at a snail's pace.
With the storm season looming, plugging low points in the seawall, built in 1969, has lagged since a storm last June 13 sent seawater through several homes.
Residents had to flee and some are still fixing the damage.
"It's been a difficult hard year for us," one of the affected residents, Vern Goodall, said.
After the storm damage, fingers were pointed about how the seawall had been compromised, including criticism of the salvage operation of the fishing boat Kutare, which sank off Cobden beach in 2017.
Goodall noted 10 to 15 low spots or flattened areas currently on the wall.
"Some of it is caused by four-wheel drives going on to the beach."
Regional councillor Peter Ewen suggested rock be made available from the closed Cobden quarry to plug gaps until a permanent solution.
But he said it needed to be addressed urgently in light of the risk.
"The ball's in (Grey District Council's) court if they want to pick up the rock."
This followed a field visit by both councils in September immediately after a joint meeting between them stalled before it even got started.
By then the district council was emphatic the regional council should fix the problem, and address future protection options in the area.
Regional council acting chairman Peter Haddock now says they are prepared to find a solution together with the district council.
While it would be "embarrassing" if another storm event hit meantime, the solution was not clear-cut.
Haddock, who retired from the district council to stand for the regional council, pointed to informal assurances to fix a problem in Cobden in 2018 had been based on "a wink and a nod".
He cited the assurance to the district council that the Government would help fund protection of the old Cobden dump, buried just above the foreshore, after tonnes of rubbish was washed out to sea during Cyclone Fehi.
"The problem is, we've got to be so careful undertaking work on a promise or a wink and a nod, as the Grey District Council found when mayor Tony (Kokshoorn) got a bit of verbal approval on the (rubbish dump) wall at Cobden, that the Government would fund it -- then it didn't," Haddock said.
As a result, the district council had to empty almost its entire $2.2 million infrastructure contingency fund to subsidise the new rockwall in front of the old rubbish dump.
After 15 months of negotiation the Government only chipped in $235,934.
Haddock said that meant he was now wary of funding "promises".
"All these projects need co-funding or funding from rating districts. What we've got to firstly identify is whose problem it really is - and both councils believe it's the other council's problem - and it's not as if the regional council has a big pot of money."
Current Greymouth mayor Tania Gibson said her council's position was clear: "We are still pretty much of the view that it is their delegation".
"We don't rate for it... That's why we pushed the issue in the first place and asked for the meeting."
It rankled that the stalled 'urgent' meeting of the Greymouth Floodwall Committee from last September had still not been reconvened, she said.
"It was (the regional council's) turn to host the meeting and it was adjourned - and we've been asking since the last meeting: it needs to be reconvened and discussed," Gibson said.
The joint meeting stalled when the Grey District Council members arrived without having received the relevant papers.
Regional council chief executive Heather Mabin said reconvening that meeting was on the "to do list" as well as clarifying an arrangement for the rock.
"We want to make it formal and official... we really need to have an agreement about what rock and who does what."
*Public interest journalism funded through NZ On Air
From local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
Water levels for irrigation in the drought-hit upper Grey Valley have held steady but are still declining, the West Coast Regional Council says.
At this stage no irrigation consent holders in the district - which has a dozen or so farming … View moreFrom local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
Water levels for irrigation in the drought-hit upper Grey Valley have held steady but are still declining, the West Coast Regional Council says.
At this stage no irrigation consent holders in the district - which has a dozen or so farming operations with spray pivot irrigators - have been found to be operating outside their consent conditions, acting consents and compliance manager Rachel Clark said.
"It has held pretty steady - certainly it has been slowly declining but it has been at a great rate of knots.
"We haven't seen drastic drops that would cause us concern."
The council announced three weeks ago it was closely watching river levels in the Grey River catchment when at that stage there had been no substantial rain since early in December.
By January 10, with the extended fine weather, the council was looking to protect waterway health while enabling water consent holders to keep utilising their consents "as much as practicable".
And the picture has not really improved apart from some spasmodic local showers and a downpour in the lower Grey Valley-Greymouth area mid-morning today.
In the past seven days council rain data shows minimal rain across the valley catchment: Atarau had 23mm (15mm in the 24 hours to 10am today), Waipuna 17.5mm (6.5mm), Ngahere: 19mm (12mm), Arnold River at Moana: 22.5mm (10.5mm) and Ahaura River at the gorge: 6.5mm (3.5mm).
Clark said the council have been monitoring irrigation bores in spot checks plus monitoring water takes over a certain litre per second.
The council also has water monitoring stations on the Grey River catchment which provides automatic data to give a comparative picture.
The consent and conditions set what individual farmers were allowed to take although older existing consents were more liberal.
"Some do have a specific cut off level ... 35 years are the maximum. It does vary."
The water take cut-off in a consent was based on data from nearby or downstream monitoring sites.
Clark said it could only be hoped that the water table would be replenished with "gentle, regular" rain in the near future, in contrast to the current conditions being experienced in the North Island.
The regional council also needed to ensure water takes meet Resource Management Act amendment regulations which came into effect last September for water takes over 20 litres/second or more, she said.
*Public interest journalism funded through NZ On Air
Many schools allow female students to wear earrings but male students aren't allowed to have an ear stud. Is it time to get rid of gender-based rules in regards to jewellery?
Share your thoughts below - write NFP if you don't wish your comments to be shared in the community … View moreMany schools allow female students to wear earrings but male students aren't allowed to have an ear stud. Is it time to get rid of gender-based rules in regards to jewellery?
Share your thoughts below - write NFP if you don't wish your comments to be shared in the community paper's We Say You Say column.
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From local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
Voting for the Westland District Council Northern Ward by-election opens on Thursday (January 26) and it could be a close run.
The ward covers the entire rural area of Westland district south from the Taramakau River to Ross, including Otira, … View moreFrom local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
Voting for the Westland District Council Northern Ward by-election opens on Thursday (January 26) and it could be a close run.
The ward covers the entire rural area of Westland district south from the Taramakau River to Ross, including Otira, Kumara, Kumara Junction, Kaniere, Three Mile, Blue Spur, Kokatahi-Kowhitirangi and Rimu. It represents more than 50% of the rateable value for the entire district - which stretches south to Haast and Jacksons Bay.
The Northern Ward has burgeoned in the past decade, with a significant increase in rural subdivision and infill housing in the more historic rural settlements, driven by rising property values and the housing shortage in Hokitika.
Of note, in the northern part of the ward closest to Greymouth, the combined area of Kumara Junction, Kumara Tram and Kumara township now has a combined population of about 800 - with the junction now having a larger population than historic Kumara (about 360).
Likewise the traditional town boundary of Hokitika is stretching ever wider into the Northern Ward.
The surprise by-election was sparked by Lake Kaniere resident Ian Hustwick, who stepped down almost immediately after being elected in October.
Hustwick, previously a district councillor about a decade ago, said he could not in conscience be part of the new council which was delivered by the voters late last year.
That left the three-seat Northern Ward one short.
Candidate interest has been high, with seven nominations until former West Coast regional councillor Debra Magner withdrew from the race due to work commitments.
With six remaining, a split vote is on the cards - Charley Cowie, Jacquie Grant, Flow Ir Inn, Euan Mackenzie, Richard Osmaston and Patrick Phelps are all chipper about their chances.
Cowie, of Stafford, said he was running to give people "more choice," with fresh ideas, given that over 40 blank voting papers had been returned from the Northern Ward last time, indicating voters felt they had no real choice.
Flow Ir Inn said their focus was that the council was inefficient, with internal management issues and spending "that needs to be sorted" -- with the value of their information technology background to add to the table.
Grant, who missed election in the last elections, said she believed her chances were good and she would bring, logic, experience and "some common sense".
Mackenzie, now of Kaniere, said he could bring a needed fresh perspective to the council table as a relative newcomer to the district, after emigrating from Scotland 12 years ago.
The council needed a solid focus on its economic base to facilitate adequate housing in the area, for example, he said.
Perennial election candidate Richard Osmaston, who lives in the Tasman District, said he was standing to help lift the profile of his Money Free Party.
"We need a toehold," he said.
Phelps, of Hokitika and the Minerals West Coast manager, said he was standing to ensure the council operated in the best interests of the ratepayers and residents.
The council was there primarily to be "a rule book and a referee, to uphold people's property rights" and to ensure the right framework so people could go about their business, he said.
*Public interest journalism funded through NZ On Air
Fire and Emergency NZ has declared a prohibited fire season in the inland Buller area, as dry and hot conditions have reached the threshold for banning outdoor fires.
West Coast district manager Myles Taylor said the fire risk was very high due to the hot and dry conditions, and there was no … View moreFire and Emergency NZ has declared a prohibited fire season in the inland Buller area, as dry and hot conditions have reached the threshold for banning outdoor fires.
West Coast district manager Myles Taylor said the fire risk was very high due to the hot and dry conditions, and there was no significant rain forecast to bring relief.
The prohibited fire season came into effect Wednesday morning. It means all existing fire permits are suspended immediately and no new permits for outdoor fires will be issued.
The fire ban covers all of the inland Buller zone, from Ikamatua to Reefton and Inangahua, Maruia and Springs Junction.
The rest of the West Coast remains in a restricted fire season.
Live independently while your loved one is cared for in the same Ryman village.
A full life for Helen is one that is surrounded by family. When she first moved to the village, Helen’s husband John was being cared for elsewhere. Now that he is living at the same village, it brings Helen and … View moreLive independently while your loved one is cared for in the same Ryman village.
A full life for Helen is one that is surrounded by family. When she first moved to the village, Helen’s husband John was being cared for elsewhere. Now that he is living at the same village, it brings Helen and her family so much happiness and reassurance.
“All the family cried when he moved in. They were so happy because it was such a beautiful thing to have him close by.”
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Each Friday morning, editor Nick Barnett serves up your finest photos of your domestic friends. You’ll also receive exclusive content with pet-related stories and photos, as well as updates on the life of Riley, … View moreGet New Zealand’s cutest pets delivered to your inbox with Furry Friday.
Each Friday morning, editor Nick Barnett serves up your finest photos of your domestic friends. You’ll also receive exclusive content with pet-related stories and photos, as well as updates on the life of Riley, Nick’s own furry friend.
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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced she will resign as prime minister before February 7.
With this year's general election scheduled for Saturday, October 14, discussions surrounding the new leader of the Labour Party are in progress.
Share your thoughts below (include Not For … View morePrime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced she will resign as prime minister before February 7.
With this year's general election scheduled for Saturday, October 14, discussions surrounding the new leader of the Labour Party are in progress.
Share your thoughts below (include Not For Print if you don't wish for your comments to be published)
From reporter Steven Walton:
The West Coast might be considered the wettest area in the country, but some of its residents using too much water may soon have to endure short bursts without it.
The Grey District Council says two of its communities are facing a “serious situation” and … View moreFrom reporter Steven Walton:
The West Coast might be considered the wettest area in the country, but some of its residents using too much water may soon have to endure short bursts without it.
The Grey District Council says two of its communities are facing a “serious situation” and residents there must reduce their water usage “in every way possible” to avoid the water being shut off for temporary periods.
The communities being urged to conserve water are Blackball and greater Greymouth, an area that covers Greymouth, Cobden, Blaketown, Boddytown, Karoro, South Beach, and Paroa.
“We don't want to impose water stoppages but may be forced to if we cannot bring our usage down,” the council said.
The warning has come just a week after the council said its water network was under “significant pressure” due to “the long spell of hot dry weather and increased demand”.
“We experience supply issues when demand for the water starts to exceed our ability to draw water from the ground.”
The council has shared water saving tips online, which include not flushing your toilet at night, taking a small bath instead of a shower, and not using your dishwasher as often.
Sprinklers or irrigation systems have been banned.
“What we’re hoping is if people do conserve water, then we’ll be fine, if everybody does their bit,” Grey District mayor Tania Gibson said.
Gibson said if usage decreased, water shutdowns would be unlikely.
If it was shut off, it would only be for an hour or so across different zones, she said.
The council was also looking at adding chlorine to one water plant, which would allow it to feed water to Runanga “and take pressure off the Grey [supply]”, she said.
Gibson urged everyone to save water and suggested people could turn their taps off when brushing their teeth, only put the washing machine on with a full load, and reuse shower water to water plants.
She said council gardens were now being watered with water from the council fountain.
“My kids wanted to go out on the trampoline with the hose the other night, they were very put out [that they couldn’t],” she said.
“If everybody does their bit and tries hard to conserve it, but still goes about their everyday life and enjoys the sunshine we’re having, it shouldn’t get to [water shutdowns],” she said.
Gibson said the West Coast was “very blasé” about water usage.
“We’ve had it very good and [conserving is] not something that we always have to do.”
The council recently posted two graphs on Facebook that showed each community’s total daily water usage and whether it was considered moderate, high or extreme.
For greater Greymouth, most days have fluttered in high to extreme usage, with only about three days of moderate usage.
Meanwhile, Blackball has not had a day of moderate usage since Christmas.
Both water supplies are fed through underground bores.
Last week, the council said the bores at Coal Creek, which is the source of water for Greymouth, had dropped 0.7 metres in a week. The total water level was 1.7m and it was still falling, the council said at the time.
The council said on Monday that with no significant rain forecast in the next 10 days, the water supply would remain under strain.
The West Coast is historically the wettest area of New Zealand.
By local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon
No toxic algal blooms have been detected in shellfish off the West Coast this summer, despite the warmer ocean temperatures caused by the marine heatwave.
Long stretches of the northern West Coast shoreline were closed to shellfish gathering for … View moreBy local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon
No toxic algal blooms have been detected in shellfish off the West Coast this summer, despite the warmer ocean temperatures caused by the marine heatwave.
Long stretches of the northern West Coast shoreline were closed to shellfish gathering for much of the first half of the 2000s due to periodic algal blooms.
MetService has said surface temperatures may reach 6C higher
than normal off the West Coast this
week.
However, algal blooms have not been detected off the West Coast for about five years.
Staff at both the West Coast Regional Council and West Coast Community and Public Health said regular testing was now being conducted via MPI.
"There's no issue at this stage but they are investigating," West Coast Regional Council science team leader Jonny Horrix said.
"I guess the assumption is no news is good news."
They would act on any adverse test results showing danger to human health from consuming affected shellfish.
New Zealand Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle said they currently had two regular shellfish sampling sites on the West Coast — both linked to popular gathering spots.
This was where mussels were collected and tested for toxins resulting from algal blooms.
"Cape Foulwind and Twelve Mile Beach have been in operation for some time and were chosen due to their location and popularity for shellfish gathering along this stretch of coast," he said.
Testing is done fortnightly all year round and the mussels are analysed for diarrhetic shellfish toxins and paralytic shellfish toxins.
"There have been no elevated test results recently."
Arbuckle said should toxins be detected above the regulatory limit, NZ Food Safety would issue a public health warning, advising against the gathering of shellfish in the relevant area.
"Warning signs will also be erected along the affected coastline."
* Public interest journalism funded through NZ On Air
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