An ongoing unnecessary inconvenience" is how Waitaki Mayor
Alex Familton describes having to deal with two regional
councils in the Waitaki district.
Speaking at the annual mayoral presentation, hosted by the
Otago Chamber of Commerce at the Opera House last night, Mr
Familton said it was "nonsense" to have to read both plans
and deal with both sets of people [at Environment Canterbury
and the Otago Regional Council].
If he "had a magic wand" in the future, he would have Waitaki
in with either "north or south" as one unitary authority.
Personally, he would take it north, that way it would get the
Waitaki River under one authority, and north had all of the
same challenges Waitaki had - irrigation, farming, farming
centres and the same type of population base.
Asked about progress on the Forrester Heights subdivision on
Cape Wanbrow, Mr Familton said he did not think the Reserves
and Other Lands Disposal Bill would be through before
Christmas.
Before the Waitaki District Council can start physical work
and issue titles for sections it has already sold, it needs
Parliament to change the reserve status on the land by
passing the Bill.
It would get through, there was "no doubt" about that, but it
had been a long process, Mr Familton said.
But even in difficult times, there was "potential good news
on the radar screen" including Meridian Energy's north bank
tunnel scheme, dairy processing plants, the Alps to Ocean
cycleway and the boost the district would get if the Holcim
cement plant went ahead, he said.
