Viewpoint – Plan needs public input

Well here we are again. Time for an update and a look at progress from your local board representative. I am sinking into the role and beginning to appreciate the overall magnitude of the job ahead.

The local board has completed its Local Board Plan and it currently sits as a draft plan until it has been through a wider consultation process which involves you, the public, to read and offer feedback. There are a number of public events planned from Warkworth Library, Kumeu and Helensville markets, as well as events in Wellsford Centennial Park and online Have Your Say feedback. The importance of this draft plan is significant. If we do not list aspirations or objectives that later require a budget, we will not be in a position to fund them.

On the other side, we cannot just list everything everyone wants, as we have to be able to deliver it in the work plan and find the appropriate funding in a finite budget. I can’t stress the importance of looking over our plan, casting an objective eye, then placing constructive feedback. Have we got a reasonable balance? Have we missed anything out?

I would like to thank my colleagues on the board and our staff, as the number of hours that have gone into this plan is significant. Before I sat on the local board, I never appreciated the complexities, diverse funding and the interaction of 20 other boards doing the same work that combines into the wider Auckland Plan and its budgeting.

I am going to take this opportunity to discuss one of my frustrations. There was a time not long ago when if you wanted to contact someone, you picked up a phone and called them. This was the copper wire network. It was resilient and worked in a power cut.

Today, this network is unsupported and as it breaks down, it will not be repaired. The telcos say “go mobile”. Well, with the loss of 3G and the implementation of 4G and 5G there are massive holes in the network in rural Rodney and it’s concerning. My point, getting back to a Local Board focus is, I believe in connected, resilient safe communities and the modern technology is letting rural Rodney down. I believe we deserve better.

Having an accident on a rural road, rolling your tractor in a paddock, falling off your horse or heaven forbid experiencing catastrophic events like the 2023 floods, may find your mobile phones not working or having very weak signal strength I don’t know if it’s because the towers are facing away from us and more at the urban centres, but many rural properties are struggling with coverage. I see the need to advocate to rectify this situation so isolated communities have the connection they need through a reliable phone network?