UPPER HUTT CITY COUNCIL and Upper Hutt Community Youth Trust are working together on Spearhead Leaders, a youth leadership programme. The new initiative aims to help develop the leadership skills and potential of the city’s youth. The council is also contributing funding alongside the Ministry of Youth Development. The four-month programme begins in March and consists of a two-day adventure boot camp, leadership mentoring, and the opportunity to run a youth leadership forum during Youth Week in June. The Spearhead Leaders programme is for people aged 12 to 24. INVERCARGILL CITY COUNCIL is reportedly struggling with increased numbers of people dumping cars. At least six cars have been dumped in Southland since Christmas. Many have been left near beaches or on environmental reserves. If the owners of the cars cannot be found, council must pay the removal costs. The four councils in Southland are pushing for a fair go on power pricing. GORE DISTRICT COUNCIL, SOUTHLAND DISTRICT COUNCIL, ENVIRONMENT SOUTHLAND and INVERCARGILL CITY COUNCIL have joined together to encourage people to make submissions on the Electricity Authority’s review of transmission pricing methodology. They argue that the current way electricity
transmission prices are spread across New Zealand isn’t fair or equal. They say that much of New Zealand’s electricity is generated in the south and their region is subsidising the transmission costs of people living in other parts of the country. They point out that consumers in Southland pay the same rates for electricity transmission that consumers further north pay. “People living throughout most of the South Island and parts of the central and lower North Island have subsidised grid upgrades in Auckland, but we don’t get to enjoy any of the benefits of them. “It seems pretty unfair, especially when we pay more for things like roading and diesel because of where we live.”
BAY OF PLENTY REGIONAL COUNCIL staff found used nappies, a lamp shade, a double bed base and an old TV among other trash in the Mangakakahi Stream after a member of the public made them aware of the rubbish via council’s pollution hotline. A trailer was required to haul over 200 kilograms of waste from the stream to the waste management landfill. Council staff spent three hours clearing and disposing of the rubbish and are urging people to take ownership for their own waste.
WELLINGTON CITY COUNCIL launches a safety initiative on a well-used walkway from the university into the CBD. Focusing on the Boyd Wilson Field to the Terrace Walkway, council will be installing a CCTV camera at the top of the stairs to connect with the existing CCTV system operated out of Victoria University. The council is looking at a number of other smaller projects aiming to open up the area, making it more visible and safer. These include increasing the frequency of maintenance of the area and an increased number of clean-ups to remove rubbish. The additional camera will be monitored through the CCTV hub based at the police station. CHRISTCHURCH CITY COUNCIL says 100 years after the statue’s original unveiling, conservation efforts are underway to repair and reinstate the white marble figure of Captain Robert Falcon Scott onto its original stone base. Unveiled in February 1917, the 2.5 tonne statue was badly damaged in the 2011 earthquake. The statue was sculpted by Captain Scott’s widow Kathleen Scott. It is expected to be back on its plinth in time for the opening of the Antarctic season in September this year.
The 1917 unveiling of the Scott statue.
CCNZ REPRESENTS NEW ZEALAND’S CIVIL and GENERAL CONTRACTING INDUSTRY We provide a forum for Councils to connect with their local contractors around issues such as procurement, health and safety, forward work planning and sustainability.
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Phone 0800 692 376
MARCH 2017 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE
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Photo from The Weekly Press, from Canterbury Museum’s Bishop Collection.
Rainwater stored naturally in underground aquifers provides important supply for many people along Northland’s east coast around Kaikohe and the Far North’s Aupouri Peninsula.