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.
