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26NAVIGATING THE FUTURE | WAIKATO DISTRICT COUNCIL“We are consulting with the communityon a proposed merger of the existingOnewhero and Whaingaroa wards toform the Onewhero-Te Akau ward.”With the local authority reorganisation, we have also had torevise the dates rates payments are due by, as Franklin’s andWaikato’s were different.The new instalment due dates will be 23 September, 23 January,and 23 May.Commuter rail serviceIn the 2011/12 Annual Plan, we said the council (along withWaikato Regional Council, Waipa District Council, HamiltonCity Council and the New Zealand Transport Agency, KiwiRail,Auckland Transport and Campaign for Better Transport) hadbeen exploring the feasibility and options for passenger railservices between Hamilton and Auckland and any fundingrequired would be consulted on in this long term plan.Since then, we have decided to explore options to extend theservice from Tuakau to Auckland. This decision was based onaffordability and possibly insufficient passengers to sustain theinitial service. A feasibility study is planned and depending onthe outcome the rail platform will be upgraded should theservice go ahead.As well, the New Zealand Transport Agency wants to focus oncompleting the expressway, which means no subsidies for anycommuter rail service.Council representationA poll on Maaori representation on the council resulted inthe proposal being rejected. The council has now reviewedrepresentation arrangements.As a result we are consulting with the community on aproposed merger of the existing Onewhero and Whaingaroawards to form the Onewhero-Te Akau ward. Wardboundaries for Huntly, Raglan and Newcastle would be slightlyexpanded. Raglan Community Board boundaries would beexpanded to include Ruapuke, Te Mata and Te Uku.There would be a total of 13 councillors for the 10 wardsplus the Mayor elected at large. This means a reduction of onecouncillor. The consultation is timed to close on 2 July, after thepublication of this plan.Council-owned companiesWe own, or have a shareholding in, several companies, and ourownership in two of them is being reviewed.Strada Corporation Ltd, formed in 1992, is an engineering,road construction and maintenance and quarrying company,operating in what is a very competitive marketplace. We wantto see a return from this investment that will help offset theamount of general rate required.The company’s board is reviewing the business and will providerecommendations to the council. More information is in theFinancial Pathway on page 44 and in the financial strategy onpage 13 in Volume Two.The other investment is in Waikato Regional Airport Ltd, whichoperates the Hamilton International Airport. This is considereda strategic regional asset. However, changes to our boundaries,the development of the expressway and south-westernmotorway means many of our residents are within an hourof the Auckland International Airport.So, we have decided to review our ownership in the Hamiltonairport and assess whether we are getting a fair return oninvestment for ratepayers. More details about this are onpage 45.
27Building on our potentialLegislative effectsMost of what we do is governed by legislation. At times, wemight have to review what we do under particular laws. Othertimes, the government might change legislation in line with itspolicy, and this can have a direct effect on what we do throughthis plan, and also on the wider community.The new Food Bill, now reported back to Parliament andwaiting for its second and third readings, will have an impact butwe do not yet know what this might be. Details of how someof the provisions will have to be administered are not finalised.Alcohol and where it’s sold is a topical issue in manycommunities. A bill before Parliament is the Alcohol Reform Bill,which aims to address this issue. When passed, it will result ina new Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act expected to come intoforce in 2013 and will have significant implications for our liquorlicensing administration, for both staff and councillors. Amongthe changes, local alcohol plans will be provided for, with thepublic able to have input into these plans. While the plans areoptional, you might be interested in liquor licensing issues andwant to have such plans in place.One option is to include these plans alongside our DistrictPlan considerations, which would help reduce consultationcosts while still including the community in liquor licensingissues. More details about these changes are in the SustainableEnvironment group of activity on page 72.Changes are also being made to the legislation governingbuilding consents. The Building Amendment Bill will amend theBuilding Act 2004, and changes building consent categories,and processing time for some types of consents. It is predictedthat our workload to process consents could drop by around25 per cent, but that could be offset because of the shortertimeframe required for processing consents. Until the bill isenacted, it is difficult to know what effect the changes mighthave for the council. More details are in the SustainableEnvironment group of activities on page 72.Enlarged Rural Fire DistrictThe National Rural Fire Authority is proposing to merge all theWaikato rural Fire Authorities into one. At the moment, eachdistrict council is a rural Fire Authority, managing fire risk andresponding to vegetation fires outside our main towns.The National Rural Fire Authority sees the Waikato as apotential enlarged fire district so that we can pool equipmentand resources and improve management. A formal proposalis expected in 2012/13. You can see more about this in theSustainable Communities group of activities on page 84.Bylaw changesSince the local government reorganisation which resultedin part of Franklin merging with Waikato district, we’vebeen administering each area’s bylaws side-by-side.However, we intend to review all the bylaws to get rid ofduplication, make sure they’re relevant and are still effectiveand achieving what was originally intended.(A bylaw is a rule or regulation councils make on a diverserange of subjects. This is done under various parliamentaryActs and the Local Government Act 2002).Many other issues have been addressed in this plan, including awide range raised through the consultation process. Other decisionswere also made relating to issues which arose because of workwe carried out after the draft plan was issued. These have beenaddressed in the Chief Executive’s submission to the plan.You can find the details of these decisions in the Groupsof Activities from page 47 and in Volume Two.
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