What matter to ratepayers and tenants
A few extracts from The newsletter of Mercury Bay South Residents and Ratepayers Association
Coastal Erosion
We at Cooks beach are firm advocates for experimental solutions be it groynes, sand or sandbags. It takes an eternity to get some bureaucrat to make a decision. Our beaches are everything; without them we have no identity. We need to save them; not get them washed away.
Our immediate concerns and what we would like to see is some TCDC action on the slips in Flaxmill. Bay to save the footpath and road. We would also like the team responsible for storm water drainage etc. is Smith, bruce Hinson to meet with local residents to discuss how they are going to alleviate the flooding problems we have just had which could become a yearly event if predictions are correct.
30 plus homes and garages in Cooks beach were flooded through the damage caused by the last three storm events, This was due to a lack of storm water infrastructure in older divisions of the beach. New houses are still being built in areas prone to flooding. Council tagging properties on their Lims because of storm water and sewage ingresses, would be of serious concern to us , considering the fault lies squarely with the Council.
Contractors and Roading
Council needs to get landowners to cull and trim trees that have an impact on infrastructure. This also applies to council landholdings
The council developer and WRC collectively condemned Cooks beach to a future of continual flooding. All of this is due because they didn’t allow for storm water to exit the wetland into the Purangi Estuary. 95% of the water catchment into Cooks Beach flows to the Northern end through Cooks Creek.
There is a problem when you have the WRC content to saving the Inuga and ignoring local input.
Where are the Water Services people in our time of need? I would have thought a visit in some form would be expected this time.
We need the right people to come and look at our concerns with input from the people who live here.
We need answers and solutions to our problems that are uniquely Mercury Bay South
We need action
We need a cohesive plan that portrays what's actually happening
We need the Council to be transparent
These extracts are very similar to the newsletters of other ratepayer areas across the Coromandel.
Similar sentiments are expressed, these are tense times and it is the season of accountability. No current council can speak for the past one but there is an urgency needed in addressing the concerns of people whose lives and livelihoods depend on quicker decisions and meaningful discussion that results in some kind of action. If the action cannot be affirmative for the ratepayer then that decision surely takes less time than a YES decision. The periods of no decisions must surely now be truncated as flexible and changing environments require flexibility in decision making.
Everyone’s situation is urgent because they live there. How to overcome this impasse where the citizen sees in the practices of councils - lost intentions, neglect, inability to enable outcomes, or overspending on frills and underspending on necessary infrastructure.
A period of clear decision making within time frames promised, proof of listening to the people who live here and some spend on structural essentials before surface maintenance might bring hope and confidence back to the people.
It is noted that two weeks ago the residents of Wharekaho were promised a meeting with planners to address their beach and home front erosion.
The Informer would hope that the meeting has been held.
It does not practically assist by comparing their situation to one on the other side of the country where their efforts do not make a difference.
A rate payer or tenant must focus on their situation and direct where possible the council and governments to serve their community in the best interests of that community.
Every local area is asking for over due or simply work not done that has been brought into focus through the storm events. How to overcome this impasse where the citizen sees in the practices of councils - lost intentions, neglect, inability to enable outcomes, or overspending on frills and underspending on necessary infrastructure.
A period of clear decision making within time frames promised, proof of listening to the people who live here and some spend on structural essentials before surface maintenance might bring hope and confidence back to the people.
It is noted that two weeks ago the residents of Wharekaho were promised a meeting with planners to address their beach and home front erosion.
The Informer would hope that the meeting has been held.