526 days ago

Environmental complaints ‘whinging’ — Coast councillor

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

From local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:

An increase in vexatious environmental complaints to the West Coast Regional Council has been dismissed by one councillor as 'whinging'.

The number and type of complaints reported back each month to the Resource Management Committee raised some comment last week when a staff reported noted 21 complaints or incidents between late April and May 26.

Planning and science manager Fiona Thomson said staff had also monitored 26 individual resource consents and investigated 21 "complaints'’.

Staff also made 12 mining compliance and bond release visits.

Committee chairperson Brett Cummings said the council seemed to be dealing with "an awful lot" of complaints at present.

Thomson said the compliance team was certainly "all hands on deck".

"It's definitely got very busy in the complaints space."

Councillor Allan Birchfield said the motive of some complainants could be characterised in the same way the leader of the Opposition had recently said - "we've become a nation of whingers and moaners".

Previous enforcement reports with "heaps of complaints" did not necessarily reflect well on the repeat complainants, he said.

"We're becoming quite pathetic actually."

Councillor Peter Haddock said vexatious complainants were certainly tying up staff time unnecessarily.

He referred to a previous example of someone's lunch rubbish left on a riverbank prompting an investigation by the council as to the point being made by Birchfield.

"A lot are unfounded and quite unfounded ... at the end of the day it costs the ratepayers."

More messages from your neighbours
4 days ago

Live Q&A: Garden maintenance with Crewcut

The Team from Neighbourly.co.nz

This Wednesday, we are having another Neighbourly Q&A session. This time with John Bracewell from Crewcut.

John Bracewell, former Black Caps coach turned Franchisee Development Manager and currently the face of Crewcut’s #Movember campaign, knows a thing or two about keeping the grass looking sharp—whether it’s on a cricket pitch or in your backyard!

As a seasoned Crewcut franchisee, John is excited to answer your lawn and gardening questions. After years of perfecting the greens on the field, he's ready to share tips on how to knock your garden out of the park. Let's just say he’s as passionate about lush lawns as he is about a good game of cricket!

John is happy to answer questions about lawn mowing, tree/hedge trimming, tidying your garden, ride on mowing, you name it! He'll be online on Wednesday, 27th of November to answer them all.

Share your question below now ⬇️

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13 hours ago

Test Your Wits! Today's Riddle Will Keep You Guessing!

Riddler from The Neighbourly Riddler

Only one colour, but not one size,
Stuck at the bottom, yet easily flies.
Present in the sun, but not in rain,
Doing no harm, and feeling no pain.
What is it?

Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbours! Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm.

Want to stop seeing riddles in your newsfeed?
Head here and hover on the Following button on the top right of the page (and it will show Unfollow) and then click it. If it is giving you the option to Follow, then you've successfully unfollowed the Riddles page.

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5 days ago

Poll: Should all neighbours have to contribute to improvements?

The Team from Neighbourly.co.nz

An Auckland court has ruled a woman doesn’t have to contribute towards the cost of fixing a driveway she shares with 10 neighbours.

When thinking about fences, driveways or tree felling, for example, do you think all neighbours should have to pay if the improvements directly benefit them?

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Should all neighbours have to contribute to improvements?
  • 82.7% Yes
    82.7% Complete
  • 14.8% No
    14.8% Complete
  • 2.5% Other - I'll share below
    2.5% Complete
2093 votes