The Hutt City Council has budgeted $50,000 to maintain and enhance the existing 12 cameras trained on the CBD, plus others in Naenae and Stokes Valley.
A further $50,000 is budgeted for 2010/2011 for camera installation in Wainuiomata.
No doubt these cameras will further enhance crime preventation in the District, but Im at a loss as to where the other $50,000 reported in the LTCCP is going.
Further to last weeks list of LTCCP $30,000 is being put up by the Hutt City Council for each of the next three years to help pay for a retail co-ordinator for the central business district. Further to that the item has generated enough interest over Mayor Ogdens comparision to Newmarket Aucklands coordinator to warrant a TV interview on TV3
Mayor David Ogden told councillors at the recent meeting to make final decisions on the Community Plan that he is “very unhappy” with what’s happening in downtown Lower Hutt. There are too many empty shops (24 as at last month) and retailers who remain “could be better supported”.
The $30,000 would “at least” pay for a part-time co-ordinator to try to get some action going.
Cr David Bassett pointed out that Business Hutt Valley is proposing a special rate be levied on CBD businesses from 2010/11 to fund better promotion of High St, Queens Drive and the surrounding area.
But Mr Ogden argued for “something to happen now”. He pointed to Newmarket, Auckland, as an example of a thriving retail destination where businesses pull together under a very energetic co-ordinator (Cameron Brewer).
“He’s on the radio and television all the time.”
Councillors also added $20,000 p.a. to the budget to retain the retail co-ordinator for the Stokes Valley, Naenae and Taita shopping centres.
A mix of carry-over funding and $100,000 of extra spending will be used to finish off the installation of paving, seating and trees throughout the rest of the Stokes Valley (Scott Court) shopping centre. There are also plans for interactive sculptures and the work will complement a proposed donation of an artwork by Guy Ngan.
However, the work in Stokes Valley pushes out a proposed upgrade in Taita shopping centre by a year.
Councillors agreed to this on the basis it made sense to finish off all the work in Stokes Valley instead of continuing to do it piecemeal, and because the proposed extension to Walter Nash stadium, incorporating the community hall, offers potential for a comprehensive look at what’s best for the Taita shops – including potentially re-orienting the opening facades of buildings.
Completing a package of expenditure aimed at boosting economic prospects, the council agreed to lift its funding of Positively Wellington Tourism of $40,000 to $60,000. Mr Ogden said this recognises that PWT is making efforts to direct cruise ship passengers to TheNewDowse, Jackson St and Maori Treasures as well as ongoing work to attract long-haul airline services to Wellington airport.
“I don’t think we can freeload off them,” the mayor said.
A Land Transport Road Safety report for Hutt City (2008) makes for interesting reading, and whilst none of this should be taken lightly, read into it whatever you take away, but be careful especially in the winter months were visibility is poor for motorists and pedestrians alike:-
The most common reason for pedestrian injuries were:-
Well I’m glad May is over, but tomorrow is Thursday. Be Safe
The man in charge of Lower Hutt’s trunk main outfall remains confident it is in good condition, and won’t need replacement in the short-medium term.
Councillors rattled by a stress fracture in the pipe in the heart of Eastbourne, forcing another month of discharge of treated sewage into the harbour while it’s repaired, said last week that it’s bad for the Hutt’s reputation.
This latest shutdown of the trunk main comes on top of a six-week, $500,000 repair job on 11 joint seals along the 18km pipeline and led Cr Ross Jamieson to query if the city is being too optimistic on the robustness of the outfall.
City Services general manager Bruce Sherlock admitted that the fact the latest leak is due to a crack in the pipe rather than a joint failure “is a concern”. That’s why, as an extra precaution, during this forced shutdown E Carson & Sons contractors will walk the entire length of the pipeline to inspect its internal integrity. Previously, CCTV cameras had been used for the inspection.
As at last Friday, contractors had inspected 9km of the outfall including random checks on joint seals and had found no other problems. They’re mystified as to what caused the stress fracture near the corner of Muritai Rd and Rimu St.
The rest of the pipe will be inspected this week but the outfall is expected to be out of action for another three weeks because of a delay over parts needed to repair the fracture.
Mr Sherlock said he’d be able to assure councillors “with more confidence” when the inspection is complete. But he reminded them a 2004 in-depth investigation, including core sampling, found the 1960-commissioned main trunk to be in good condition, with an anticipated useful life of another 30 years or so.
Replacing the pipeline would cost about $30 million, but a government subsidy of 28% would be available. It’s a possibility any new pipeline would be laid under the harbour.
The council has put in its 10-year budget a $30 million contingency, mostly coming into effect from 2019. Mr Sherlock says an upgrade to the capacity of the outfall will be necessary if the resource consent allowing discharge of treated sewage overflow into Waiwhetu Stream in times of heavy rain is not renewed in 2013 (though he’s confident it will be renewed), or if growth in the city requires a bigger/better pipe from Korohiwa to the outfall (the section where pressure is the highest).
He said if it was found necessary, some of that money could be diverted to replace all 4,000 of the joint seals along the pipeline at a cost of $3,000 each.
Cr Jamieson said the pipe shutdowns annoy fishers and other harbour users, cause traffic disruption while repairs are done, and – despite the assurances that the material being released into the harbour is secondary treated sewage from the Seaview plant, with a quality and appearance close to water – ”Waiwhetu Stream stinks. It does!”
Fellow Eastbourne councillor Joy Baird said the pipe shutdowns damage council’s credibility but Mayor David Ogden said he refuted that. The Hutt Valley had spent $60 million on a modern treatment plant at Seaview that it could have built out at Pencarrow Heads. It had taken all the care it could to inspect the main trunk pipeline, ”and I have said consistently if we need to build a new pipeline, we will”.
via Stuff
The HCC will bump up its spending on cycleways by $200,000 to $350,000 per annum.
This is an acknowledgement of strong public support for improved cycling facilities in surveys and as part of the LTCCP.
A priority for 2009/2010 budget will be work on a River Trail cycleway between Manor Park and Silverstream. At present cyclists are forced to dice with motorised traffic on the highway at tht point.
Hutt River Trail
$10,000 will also be set aside as the Hutts contribution to a detailed investigation of the Great Harbour Way, a proposed 5 metre cycleway/walkway running from Red Rocks in Wellington, all the way around the harbour to Burdons Gate at Eastbourne.
It appears that this issue will not go away, given its low priority rating in the ratepayers survey it will continue to be a point of controversy until construction is completed. HuttNZ feels it is a cop out to make good on past failures by the Hutt City Council in dealing with Eastbourne issues. The story so far…..
The fate of the Eastbourne land that nearly caused the town to launch a secession attempt has moved closer to resolution with acceptance of a $2.2 million makeover in Hutt City Council’s latest spending plans.
But some councillors say the funding is exorbitant in a tough economic climate where the focus is on finding cuts.
Renovating the 70-year-old barns was one of the sticking points during a stoush between the council and Eastbourne residents, when the coastal town threatened to secede to Wellington.
A compromise was reached when the council agreed to set aside $500,000 to refurbish the site, with the plans later costed at nearly $3m. The project’s cost has now been estimated at $2.2m in the council’s long-term plan, which councillor Max Shierlaw said was too much in this environment.
He was one of two councillors who opposed the bus barn spending, citing public surveys where it rated poorly. “The community at large have spoken loud and clear and they do not see this as a priority.”
Even residents in Petone, Seaview and Eastbourne were split on the spending, he said. “People I’ve spoken to think it’s nuts … it’s just a hang-over from the Eastbourne Rights secession plan.”
But Lower Hutt Mayor David Ogden said he was not interested in going through the argument again.
The council had drawn up plans for the site and consulted extensively with the community. The barns had a heritage rating, and their refurbishment was an investment for the council because they could be rented out.
“I’m sure it will be something we’ll be proud of when we’re finished,” he said.
The overhaul includes money to strengthen the building located just south of Eastbourne and landscaping. The council has a tentative rental agreement with a bus company to use the barns. Hutt City pocketed $2 million from the sale of the former Eastbourne Bus company in the 1990s to reduce debt and by oversight had failed to charge the City Line bus company use of the building that could have been used to maintain it.
The area has caused controversy for years, with the bus barn deteriorating and a community proposal for the area rejected by Hutt City Council.
When the council announced plans to demolish the building and subdivide the land, Eastbourne Rights group organised a petition to secede to Wellington City Council.
Community board chairman Ian Young said the council had come around to the idea of public consultation, even devoting its staff to helping with the report. Mr Young pitched the upgrade project as “an investment opportunity”. Rents from the bus company and for the flats that will be created are anticipated to be worth $100,000 per annum.The bus company is contributing $350,000 to the project.
More than 40 submissions on the land were received by February 2008 as to what to do with the Bus Barns.
Renovating the 70-year-old barns was one of the sticking points during a stoush between the council and Eastbourne residents, when the coastal town threatened to secede to Wellington.
The National Government has no plans to merge local authorities in the Hutt Valley, local list MP Paul Quinn (National) says.
He was responding to Rimutaka MP Chris Hipkins (Labour)(see previous post), who had said the way the legislation had been rushed through parliament for Aucklands “Super City” set a dangerous precedent for local government reform in other parts of the country “including here in the Hutt Valley”
Mr Quinn goes on to say “I stated at a public meeting (last) October that there was plenty of scope for the Greater Wellington Regional Council to sharpen up its act. I also made it clear that a merger was something for the communities of Upper Hutt and Lower Hutt to decide”
All credit to Mr Quinn, and also his stated stance at Project Awakairangi (Hutt Valley Police Merger) meetings that he attended and was upset that the police had adopted the project without consultation.
No doubt this issue wont go away given the profile of Aucklands Super City.
It is important to note that in late April, Local Goverment Minister Rodney Hide met the Hutt Valleys 2 mayors.
Mr Hipkins asked Mr Hide in Parliament whether he had received any advice on the possibility of a merger in the Hutt Valley and was told Mr Hide had been given a memo and background notes prior to his meeting the 2 mayors. Mr Hide said the memo advised him the 2 mayors did not support amalgamation of all the councils in the Wellington region, “believing this process should be left to ratepayers to initiate” and that “Mr Ogden (Lower Hutt Mayor) had raised the idea of a smaller amalgamation between Hutt and Upper Hutt City Councils”
Mr Hipkin has since lodged an Official Information Request for a copy of the full memo and background notes.
HuttNZ is very interested in the context of this memo as well, the quote is worth a second look
“Mr Ogden (Lower Hutt Mayor) had raised the idea of a smaller amalgamation between Hutt and Upper Hutt City Councils”
We await release on this memo to find some conclusions, and give a clearer insight intothe mandate Mr Ogden appears to have adopted.
We believe that it is not up to council to decide but the public of the Hutt Valley. No doubt previous councils eg Eastbourne, Petone have opinions on mergers and the impact it has on community issues.
Whatever occurs, it is HuttNZ opinion that the public has a right to full disclosure on this issue, sooner rather than later.
Last Wednesday night was the approval of the Capital expenditure budget for the HCC, both current (rates) and funding for the Long Term Community Council Plan (LTCCP).
In each case we have covered off the arguments for and against several of these projects (listed below). Some of these are well of the mark in regard to public opinion. Just click through to link it to previous posts, to get further insight into where this money is going, and why. To introduce the LTCCP money spend I leave it to the words of the Mayor David Ogden
“Council however remains committed to meeting the community’s need for services and facilities and the changes to the LTCCP reflect that, including:
Other key features of the LTCCP include:
We at HuttNZ will investigate the rest of the items not previously posted about in an endeavour to match these up against the LTCCP presented to the commnity, and if warranted will look into items that need more public discussion.
No doubt many of these items will raise concerns to the public, but several need to be looked at in light of central government spending that supports several of these projects, and is incumbent on local government to support them as well.
Please use the links provided to gain greater understanding of these current projects.
I look forward to your comments.
This is the first in a series of posts in light of last Wednesdays HCC budget meeting, I will breakdown the proposed expenditure in the coming year in a separate post.
All reviews are in light of the Long Term Community Council Plan (LTCCP), and the impact on these items up to the year 2019.
First Rates:- (you never thought these would go down did you)
As a result of an increase in council rates revenue in 2009/10 increase is now set at 3.4%, down from 3.9% projected in the draft LTCCP.
This is a direct result of an 11th hour “across the board” cut of $600,000 from the citys operational budget in the coming year 2009/10.
The 3.9% increase is in line with CPI plus 0.5% for city growth. The $600k is out of an operating budget of $120 million, so its not much 0.5% of a percent saving (give me strength).
The difficulty with the above figure is that CPI relates to the current year where as the HCC operates to a different schedule (June year), and indications are that the CPI of 3.4% will actually be around 2% making the council adrift in their efforts to curb increases to residents.
It is well known that people are suffering in the current economy. This has impacts on individuals as well as businesses.
Mayor David Ogden says:
“Times are tough with many households and businesses struggling to make ends meet. Council recognises this and will cut its cloth to keep rate increases down,”
“We believe savings can be found and council managers have agreed to examine all areas of expenditure and come back with specifics on how this can be achieved.”
Average increase to rates are yet to be determined but council officials reckon it will be around a 2.9% increase because of increased rate roll through property growth. No doubt upon receipt of this years rate bill, will you truely get an insight into whether you think the HCC is performing, and reacting fast enough in this economy.
I wonder if 0.5% cut to budget is asking enough of our council. I suspect most people who are directly effected by rates have had to trim their costs by more than 0.5%
Final note: Rates will contribute about 65% of this years income for the HCC, being $78m out of income of $118m (estimates)
Given all the above (if you can stomach the figures) it appears the HCC is doing OK, I give them a pass mark. Other councils in NZ have had far greater increases passed but all of this needs to be factored against Capital expenditure items HCC approved (my next post).
Police are speaking to the owner of a vehicle that crashed into a power pole, sending power lines faling across tracks in Upper Hutt.
The accident happened about 8.45pm on Sutherland Avenue Trentham.
No one was injured, no power outages reported and debris cleared within an hour. Witnesses are sought.
huttnz.co.nz 