Boards urge council to look beyond city centre

Dunedin's community board heads are imploring the city council not to forget about some of the city's smaller outlying communities.

Last week the Dunedin City Council put the finishing touches on its 10-year plan which will come with a 7.84% rates increase in the first year and a 4% increase in most fees and charges.

Speaking to the Otago Daily Times yesterday the city's community board chairmen and chairwoman were generally supportive of the plan.

But concerns were raised about the council's focus on the central city, with projects like the $20million walking and cycling bridge, which they say could come at a cost to the city's outlying areas.

All six of the community boards made a submission and presented their own 10-year plans during the consultation process.

Waikouaiti Coast Community Board Alasdair Morrison said the area was not ignored in the plan but the council's focus on the central city could mean projects in the more rural areas were put off.

``There seems to be all this stars in your eyes stuff with the bridge, the other bits and pieces, but I'm sure there are some things buried away which are good for us. We just hope they [the council] don't get side-tracked.''

One of the major projects outside of the central city is the new aquatic facility in Mosgiel, which the council has backed with a $10.8million contribution.

Mosgiel-Taieri chairwoman Sarah Nitis said the increase in funding for the new pool was fantastic and overall the board was happy with the plan.

There would be some residents in the semi-rural and rural areas of the Taieri who would be hit with quite large rate increases, and they would want to see the council doing something in the area with that money, Mrs Nitis said.

Mosgiel and the Taieri would benefit from the ``big'' roading and infrastructure budgets, and residents paying high rates would ``want to see some action'', she said.

West Harbour chairman Steve Walker said the vast majority of west harbour residents would spend a significant amount of time in or near the central city, so those projects would benefit them.

It was harder to accept the increased contribution for Mosgiel's new pool when a fraction of that money spent on the Port Chalmers Pool would have been very well received, Mr Walker said.

He was pleased the council would give $40,000 towards continuing the area's sycamore tree removal programme.

Otago Peninsula chairman Paul Pope said he hoped the council would consider the impact that increasing the city's attractiveness - which the major projects aimed to do - would have on infrastructure in areas like the peninsula.

``There's the nuts and bolts stuff like the roading, and one of the real big ones for us is the condition of the back bays, particularly around what future they have with climate change and where we go lifting and raising the levels of those roads.

``And we haven't seen a lot to do with that in the plan yet.''

Saddle Hill Community Board chairman Scott Weatherall and Strath Taieri Community Board Chairman Barry Williams could not be contacted yesterday.

tim.miller@odt.co.nz