North Canterbury News: February 15, 2024

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North Canterbury News, February 15, 2024
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Capturing the magic of nature
BySHELLEY TOPP
Aphoto of abanded dotterel taken by
Don Parish at the Ashley­Rakahuri
River,has won the open section of the
inaugural Waimakariri Nature Photo
Competition.
The judges,Steve Attwood and Tracey
Borgfeldt, said the photo capturesa
magic moment as the bird is reflected
while feeding, tellingagreat story about
this bird in its environment.
The winning image of the junior
section, taken by Olivia Woodcock in
North Loburn, alsocame in for high
praise from the judges.
‘‘This photo comes through as the
winner because it is very strong in terms
of story telling.
‘‘The mating damsel flies, and egg
laying capturesthis wetlandscene so
well.’’
The competition, which attracted
about 100 entries, ran during the
Christmas/New Year School holidays to
promote Pest Free Waimakariri, a
Waimakariri District Council
greenspace team initiative which was
established in October lastyear.
Pest Free Waimakariri’s ranger
Richard Chambers said manypeople in
Waimakariri are working to make the
district's natural places better for
wildlife, so the aim of the competition
was to encourage people to get out over
summer and spendtime enjoying them.
‘‘We had alot of photos from the rivers
and estuaries of the area, butalsomany
from people's own gardenswhich was
great,’’ he said.
Council greenspace team spokesman
Mike Kwant said the public response to
the competition was tremendous.
‘‘The photographs reveal the diversity
of life that make their home in our
district and emphasisethe importance
of looking after the natural habitats
which they depend on for their survival.
‘‘Where possible we need to look
beyond protecting these reserves and
take practical steps to enhance and
extend them,’’ he said.
‘‘There is alsothe added value of
learningabout the plants and animals
that live there.
‘‘The experience of visiting our
natural greenspacesisthat much more
rewarding with that knowledge which
justteases curious minds to know
more.’’
The judges were pleased to see ahigh
standard of entries.
‘‘At the top end, we were really
challenged to choosebetween the
winner and the runners­up.’’
For this reason afew highlycommendedprizes
were added to the
competition.
They alsosaid they hoped the
competition would become an annual
event.
‘‘Competitions such as this encourage
people to get out and learn what natural
treasuresthey have in their own
community,’’ Steve said.
‘‘That leads to abetter understanding
of what is there and greater awareness
leads to more support for reserves and
native species conservation so our
childrenand grandchildren will still
have these beautiful plant and animal
species and special landscapes to
enjoy.’’
Tracey said it would be great to see the
competition become aregular event.
‘‘I would love to see more entries in
the youth section. For its first time up,
the competition attracted some amazing
photos and Ican only see it getting
better and expanding and creating that
closer relationship between people and
the wonderful place we are lucky
enough to live in.’’
They also had some words of
encouragement for the photographers
whose images did not win aprize.
‘‘Join aphotographic club and keep
getting out there and taking photos. The
more you do, the better you get, and
spending time sitting and observing
while you wait for that perfect shot is a
great way to really engage with the
environment.’’
Results were:
Open: Don Parish, Banded Dotterel,
Ashley­Rakahuri River 1, Ann Coates,
‘Stepping Up’, Banded Dotterel chick,
taken at the mouth of the Ashley­
Rakahuri River 2, Graham Fisher
‘Stretching My Wings at Sunrise’,Little
Egret, Taranaki Reserve, Ashley­
Rakahuri River 3.
Highly commended: Cindy Signal, Royal
Spoonbill, Ashley­Rakahuri Estuary;
Graham Fisher, Dragonfly, Kaiapoi
Lakes.
Youth: Olivia Woodcock, Damsel flies,
North Loburn 1, Lyla Powell, Waterside
Pukeko, Fernside 2, Ben Woodcock,
Young fantail, North Loburn.
Hurunui ratepayers to face rate hikes
By DAVID HILL
LocalDemocracy Reporter
Hurunui ratepayerscan expect hefty rate
rises over the next two years.
Average rate rises of 12.41 percent for
this year, and 14.14% for next year
(2025/26) have been signalled in the
Hurunui District Council’s draft Long
Term Plan.
Speaking at an extraordinarycouncil
meeting on Tuesday, chief financial officer
Jason Beck said he expected the rates rise
to drop below 5% in 2026/27.
He said the proposed rate rises are in
line with other councils and reflected the
significant cost increases and impacts of
regulatory changes the council faced.
The council was also continuing to
upgradeits three waters infrastructure
over the next two years.
Deputy Mayor Vince Daly questioned
whether ‘‘rates smoothing’’ could be
introduced to spread the impact of rate
increases over the next three years.
‘‘A lot of people are on fixed incomes, so
Ithink we need to look at balancing it out
instead of having two big rates increases
and then going under 5%.’’
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Mr Beck said some form of ‘‘rates
smoothing’’ was possible by spreading out
debt repayments.
‘‘It can be done. It doesn't move the cost,
but it moves the funding of the cost from
the rates in year one out to years two and
three.’’
Chief executive Hamish Dobbie said he
was not in favour of ‘‘ratessmoothing’’.
‘‘We’ve done it before and something
else always happens, and we end up
having to push the rates up to cover extra
debt.’’
An expenditureof$368.6 million was
proposed over the next 10 years, with
roading ($160.8 million) the biggest
expense, followed by three waters ($142.6
million) and other capital expenditure
including the Hanmer Springs Thermal
Pools &Spa ($65.2 million).
Mr Beck said funding social housing was
also proving to be aheadache.
The initial budget allowed for a10%
yearly rent increase, but this was found to
be unsustainable and has been reduced to
5%.
Social housing ownership will be
reviewed as part of the LongTerm Plan
consultation.
Starts:
t
Runs every Monday until end ofSeptember
Monday 26 th February 113 Raven Quay, Kaiapoi
at 6.45pm
For further information, please call
Mary Wills on 021 047 4130 or 03 327 8561.
26
65064
2
‘‘We have asocial conscience, so we
want to have the provision of social
housing, but we need to lookatwhat our
long term commitment is,’’ Mayor Marie
Black said.
The council’s debt level was expected to
peak at $142 million in 2030/31, before
dropping back to $116 million in 2033/34.
This equates to adebt to revenue ratio of
as high as 161.29%, so is dependant on a
change in the Treasury policy which limits
it to 125%, Mr Beck said.
The council will meet again on March 26
to adopt the draft Long Term Plan for
consultation.
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