Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta provides details on the amalgamation of Aotearoa s water services. Rangītikei would be part of an entity covering Whanganui, Ruapehu, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Taranaki. The other two entities would cover most of the South Island and the North Island from Auckland up, respectively. It has been estimated as much as $185 billion needs to be spent on water services in New Zealand in the next 30 years. Wednesday’s announcement came with information from Internal Affairs about how much the average household would have to pay per year for water services in 2050 if the entities did or did not exist.
Tararua District Council is installing four of the bins in remote spots that get a lot of visitors, including Waihi Falls and the Mangatainoka Reserve.
Warwick Smith/Stuff
Pahīatua on Track says Tararua District Council’s “urban buffer zones,” that set a minimum subdivision size of 8000sqm, are restricting urban growth.
A community board is warning Tararua District Council their zoning rules could limit a town’s ability to expand, as the region deals with a rapidly growing population for the first time in its 30-year history. The Tararua district’s population peaked in the 1960s and was in constant decline until 2013, and since 2018 the population growth had repeatedly blown past the council’s estimates – based on the highest forecasts from Statistics NZ. Pahīatua on Track chairwoman Louise Powick said the community board was concerned that the council’s district plan was constraining urban growth, and limiting Tararua’s ability to ensure there were enough houses for the growing population.
SUPPLIED
Many Tararua farmers were shocked to receive rates indication letters forecasting up to 40 per cent increases when the district council’s draft long term plan slated a 9 per cent rural rates increase for the 2021/2022 year.
Farmers are irate over massive rates increases, calling for adjustments and reconsideration of the ‘broken system’ heavily linking their rates bill to rapidly rising property values. The Tararua District Council heard submissions on its draft 2021-2031 Long Term Plan this week, bringing consultation to an end before public opinion was taken into consideration for the final draft. Farmers were the most vocal of submitters, fired up by the difference between the 9 per cent rural rates increase slated for the 2021/2022 year in the draft plan, and the up to 40 per cent increases many were seeing in rates indication letters sent out by the council.
Watch as the Tararua District Council makes an historic decision to introduce Māori wards.
Emotions ran high as Tararua Māori celebrated an historic decision which will grant them greater participation in the decisions that affect them, and strengthen and reaffirm their partnership with the Tararua District Council. A celebratory haka, lead by Ngāti Kahungunu ki Tāmakinui-a-Rua chairman Hayden Hape, erupted as Tararua District Council voted 7-1 to establish a Māori ward for the 2022 local government elections. Hape said it was an amazing and historic affirmation of unity that would guarantee Māori a seat at the table, when they had too often been sidelined in the past.