[Missing Credit]Strath Taieri Community Board chair Terina Geddes. Photo: supplied News of the moving of Dunedin City Council’s community services from Middlemarch to Mosgiel felt like a “kick in the guts” to residents. News the council would be withdrawing their services from the Farmlands shop in the Middlemarch town centre was shared on social media. This upset some residents, who argue they would now have to travel to Mosgiel to get full council services. But the council has backtracked somewhat since it was announced late last week, saying it will consider the matter in the 10-year-plan process. “There would be no job losses involved if the service is discontinued.” Strath Taieri Community Board chair Terina Geddes said the proposal was a “real kick in the guts”. “The biggest kick is that no-one else has been consulted. “Even as a community board chair, they haven't reached out to me to say, hey, how would the community feel about this if we took away these services?” Several people were “disappointed” by the moves, Ms Geddes said. She was aware the council has proposed it would not send a customer services representative up to Middlemarch for the rates when they were due, or to look after dog registrations as they had in the past. "We’re worried our community will be ignored.” The most recent census showed Middlemarch had a resident township population of about 150 to 153 people, while the wider Strath Taieri rural district and statistical area under the Dunedin City Council (DCC) boundary had an estimated total population of about 400 to 700 people. In comparison, Mosgiel had about 15,100 people. It is about 45 minutes’ drive from Middlemarch to Mosgiel. A DCC spokesperson acknowledged the proposal could have been communicated better. “We recently emailed the building owner advising them of our decision to withdraw the service at Middlemarch, but we now acknowledge this needs further consideration.” At present, the Middlemarch outreach service offered “a very limited service” based on “one two-hour session quarterly each year”. “One of our Dunedin-based Customer Services team members drives to Middlemarch to provide the sessions, which run from 10am to 12 noon.” Council records showed that since 2024 only 1-3 people per session have made use of the service and the only transactions processed are rates payments – “something that can easily be done online or via automatic transfers”. “Any member of the public can also ring our Customer Services team if they have questions or visit the nearest DCC Service Centre in Mosgiel. “All councils are facing challenging financial times, which means it is prudent to consider cost savings where we can, but we acknowledge our communication with the building owners about this change was premature.”
