Week in review

Some readers have asked if I would do a weekly round-up of my council activities. I will certainly try to do this for you (and hopefully busy weeks won’t result in me forgetting).

This week was a busy week with council. On Monday and Wednesday evenings, I attended the first two of the three days of hearings on the proposed change of purpose of the Turitea Reserve and proposed amendments to the Turitea Reserve Management Plan. Council received 530 submissions to these changes. These were distributed to councillors in three packages. I followed my usual routine of reading all submissions as they come in to me, then re-reading the lot the day before the hearings. The hearings are set in three sessions on each of the three days - starting 5pm, 7.30pm and 9pm. The final day of hearings is on Wednesday, 27th September.

On Thursday, I attended the funeral of John Matenga at Te Rangimarie Marae, representing the Mayor and other councillors, all of whom were unavailable to attend.

Friday saw a sitting of the Hearings Committee for a resource consent under the Resource Management Act. The committee travelled out to visit the site then convened the meeting at 10am. This meeting adjourned shortly after midday and will reconvene on Monday, 25th. Preparation for a RMA hearing can take some considerable time. The application, any submissions to it, and all evidence has to be read, understood, and any questions that arise from this get noted. Relevant sections of the District Plan are studied and the Act itself is referred to. Relevant legal decisions are read. So, a one day hearing is usually preceded by several days work. Some hearings take place over several days. The hearings committee is a specialised committee of council made up of five councillors (myself, Lew Findlay, Alison Wall, Anne Podd and our chairman, Gordon Cruden) all of whom have undergone comprehensive training and accreditation. It is a quasi-judicial function with significant responsibility.

So, that’s it - my council work this week.