Wairoa District Council has gathered thoughts and views from local people despite the challenging times.

The consultation period for the Council’s Long-Term Plan for 2024-2027 has now closed. While the June flooding event prevented most of the scheduled hui and caravan sessions from going ahead, feedback was still gathered.

Feedback and submissions have been reported to elected members, and hearings and deliberations are scheduled for Thursday, August 1, in the Council chambers.

An Extraordinary Council meeting will be held on Thursday, August 8, at 1pm to adopt the final Long-Term Plan.

Wairoa Mayor Craig Little said a focus of the plan had been recovering from Cyclone Gabrielle. “We never expected that when we went out to consultation that we would be hit with another flood event. I’m sorry we couldn’t get out to the community as we had originally planned. The June State of Emergency created a lot of pressure on staff and elected members and we were unable to extend the consultation period as we need to be able to meet the deadlines of adopting the Long-Term Plan. We have still gathered feedback and will be using this as part of the deliberations.”

Mr Little said the initial forecast was that the average rates would increase by 19.5%.

“We know things are hard out there for everyone. From households to businesses, we are all under financial pressure and doing our best in these challenging times. Providing the required services, cyclone recovery, and now recovery from the June flooding has added pressure on top of the existing financial challenges the Council was facing, and we are working to continue to deliver the core activities and facilities our community expects.

“We will now consider the feedback we have received, particularly around the key areas of roading, solid waste management, waste minimisation and kerbside collection, revitalising our CBD and the future of our archives storage. Thank you to everyone who provided feedback.”

22 July 2024

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