Reading: 2064 pages
Hours in meetings: 16 hours
Wow! That’s a bit of reading.
The vast majority of it is the submissions that people have made to the Long term Plan.
The first day of hearings was held at Huria Marae on Friday. This is my first run at hearing submissions to a Long Term Plan and I have to say that I am impressed by the thought that has gone into the ones we have heard.
We aren’t allowed to debate with the submitters. This is their opportunity to have us hear what they have to say and for councilors to just ask clarifying questions as needed. It’s a great way of ensuring we keep our minds open to ideas.
The big news of the week though was the incredibly generous donation of his farm to the Regional Council by Ian Noble.
It is important to Ian that the land is held for the community forever, so the QEII Trust is involved to ensure the land is covenanted.
The 103 ha of land abuts the Kaimai Forest Park and is a hop skip and jump away from a Western Bay District Park. Over time this will become an amazing Regional Park, assuming Long Term Plan deliberations confirm this is a good idea. Submissions to date are heavily in favour.