Strength Through Communication

Posted by Frana Cardno on 21 September 2009 | 0 Comments

Tags: central government, roading, zone 6, legislation

Working together is becoming more and more important and I believe we do that well here in the south. So often we are ahead of other regions in New Zealand because of this ability to communicate.

I believe that those communication skills are needed even more so at the moment as the National Government is passing a lot of legislation that affects us all.

This week we had a zone 6 meeting and you will think what on earth that is. New Zealand is broken into local government zones and zone 6 is for all council south of the Waitaki. These zones are part of Local Government New Zealand's structure and help it be the voice at Central Government level for local government.

The Zone meetings also provide all the councils a chance to network and share information and at this meeting the thorny subject of road funding was to the forefront.

The recent $8.7 billion national land transport package announced by Central Government recently saw Southland only get 1.78 percent, or $155 million. That means $800,000 less for maintenance than what had been requested and will obviously lead to work being deferred.

The funding not only affects us but many of the other councils in the south as well. Invercargill City has had major cuts and Clutha District is suffering as well. Federated Farmers is right behind councils on this point and said in a letter to the editor that it has been lobbying for additional funding for local roads.

I know I go on about this, but it is so frustrating to have to continually point out that:

a/ we have the largest roading network in the south

b/ Based on 2006 figures, each individual Southlander on average is paying over $300 in rates towards maintaining our roads, while those living in Auckland pay less than $100 in rates towards the same

c/ the rural communities are producing what keeps New Zealand going. The world is always going to need food, and we have the resources to produce it, but we may not have the roads soon to deliver it.

Over the years we have lost millions in various government budgets. Road funding was meant to address issues of regional equity and help the provinces carry out work of regional importance, but that did not occur and instead road funding became another subsidy, which required local share funding.

The Long Term Council Community Plan structure means we have to plan out our roading activity, as well as all our other activities, for 10 years and so we planned on getting funding that is gone now to "roads of significance" in major urban areas or to state highways, over which councils have no control.

I guess we are at the stage of saying "sorry folks, our roads have just become unaffordable and we are not able to keep maintaining them to the present standard."

Another huge issue that was discussed at Zone 6 was the cost of electricity. It was highlighted by Central Otago Mayor Malcolm MacPherson, who said the costs families and retired people were facing, particularly after the cold winter, were unmanagable.

In areas in Central Otago and Queenstown, where fires are not allowed, some people are facing monthly bills of $800 to $1000.

The question has to be asked why our electricity is so expensive when we live right next door to really large power stations.

However, a real positive from this Government is the $23 million insulation and heating programme. This has been taken up strongly across the country and is so popular it is starting to run out so people need to apply and get their subsidy.

With so much change happening and so much legislation going through at a fast pace, the message is strong at local level and at Zone level that we need to keep talking and sharing so we can keep on advancing our province as much as possible.