Johnsonville Needs Infrastructure Upgrade First

Proposed changes to the Wellington City Council District Plan risk exacerbating current traffic congestion problems in Johnsonville. The City Council is closing off public submissions on Friday 27th November - despite reports that it won't get around to hearing public submissions until May 2010. The question is why the hurry to stifle public debate?

Johnsonville today simply does not have the infrastructure required to support a large increase in infill housing. Our roads are congested at peak times, our on-street parking is already difficult to navigate and other services are also likely to come under pressure in the wake of a surge in population growth.

The Council should defer consideration of this proposal until more local residents have had an opportunity to comment. Many are unaware of the scale of change being proposed and the likely impact on the community. If sitting councillors are confident about the proposed changes then I invite them to test public opinion at the ballot box during next year's local body elections.

Northern Suburbs Deserve More Attention

In the empty spaces of Stebbings Valley the ongoing growth of Wellington City is plain to see. One of Wellington's fastest growing suburbs - Churton Park - already has 4,000 residents. The local school roll has grown to such an extent that a new school will soon have to be built. However, in many ways it is the neglected suburb of Wellington. There are not yet any facilities which most suburbs take for granted. No community hall. No youth facilities. No local supermarket or coffee shop. No Sports Centre for it. No Community Board. The one road out of the suburb - Middleton Road - regularly comes to a peak-hour stand still on weekdays. A long-planned link road to the motorway has been stalled through a combination of RMA consent delays and Council funding squabbles. The City Council has a clear focus on areas south of Johnsonville - the so-called 'growth spine". Problem is the growth spine isn't growing. Trying to starve development in the north through lack of attention and investment is not a smart idea. If local residents in the northern suburbs feel neglected by their Council that may be because they have been. Let's hope 2009 is a year in which the Council rediscovers its long forgotten northern suburbs.

Port Nicholson Settlement - A Major Contribution to Justice

The Port Nicholson Block Claims Team have signed a Deed of Settlement with the Crown settling all the historical Treaty claims of Taranaki Whānui at a ceremony at Wellington’s Pipitea Marae.

Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika is a collective that comprises people from a number of Taranaki iwi whose ancestors migrated to Wellington in the 1820s and 30s and signed the Port Nicholson Block Deed of Purchase in 1839.

Treaty Negotiations Minister Michael Cullen said the signing was an important milestone in the relationship between the Crown and iwi in New Zealand’s capital city.

The settlement package includes:

· an historical account, Crown acknowledgements of historical breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles, a Crown apology, and the innovation of a Statement of forgiveness from Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika to the Crown;

· a cultural redress package featuring the transfer of a number of sites of cultural significance to Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika, including the three islands in Wellington Harbour, with public access rights preserved; and

· a quantum of $25.025 million, as well as the opportunity to purchase a number of Crown properties in Wellington city and the surrounding region.


Dr Cullen deserves full credit for settling this claim and for leading the way in beginning a healing process to enable iwi to move forward.

Time for Wellington To Grow

Recent statistics on staff numbers show that there has been significant growth in public service jobs. This makes Wellington vulnerable to any major staff reductions in the public sector should there be any significant change to government spending in the near term. Wellington needs to develop additonal sources of growth and employment in the private sector. As many investors are finding at to their cost - it pays to diversify.

Economies of scale are well and good but we need to balance the idea of concentrating development in the CBD. From a strategic perspective having all our facilities concentrated around the CBD leaves us vulnerable in the event of an earthquake.

In an age when carbon-based transport is likely to become more expensive we need to consider alternatives. Light rail, broadband, teleworking are all concepts worth exploring. If the city is going to prosper and grow then we need to be open to the outside world and market ourselves globally. We need to attract the people and the capital to invest in modern infrastructure and we need to sell high value products and services in the global marketplace. Perhaps its time to dust off the proposal for a hi-tech business park in the northern suburbs?

No Nukes Is Good Nukes

Over the past 12 months a number of print and radio news items have appeared extolling the virtues of nuclear power and urging a reconsideration of New Zealand's opposition to nuclear power.

There are at least five good reasons for continuing to oppose nuclear power in New Zealand. These are:
1. Even now there is still no way to safely dispose of highly radioactive waste produced by nuclear power plants. If we're going to be good stewards of the environment then we cannot just dump toxic radioactive waste in the Pacific or in the Southern Alps.
2. The risk of nuclear materials falling into the hands of terrorists and the large scale damage that could result. Globally the risk of terrorists getting their hands on nuclear material increases every time another country adopts nuclear power as an energy source. We do not need to be part of that problem.
3. The inability of the pro-nuclear lobby to guarantee the safety of nuclear power plants. Nuclear accidents in the USA (Three Mile Island) and Russia (Cheronobyl) continue to remind us that sometimes our faith in science and human engineering can be misplaced - no matter how many safety systems are in place. The engineers of the Titanic also believed they had a truly safe and unsinkable product. Supporters of nuclear power will argue that life itself can be seen as being one big risk management exercise but frankly when it comes to nuclear power it pays to err on the side of caution.
4 New Zealand has particular geographical challenges such as our terrain and earthquake risks. Even if the case for nuclear power can be made for the USA or France - the challenges for New Zealand and the reasons not to do it are stronger here than elsewhere.
5. The economics don't stack up. The cost of nuclear reactors in the UK is now budgeted at $9billion each. That could fund our entire education or health system for some years. In most countries nuclear power plants rely on taxpayer subsidies to cover the cost of construction. I can think of a lot of other things I'd prefer to use taxpayer subisides for ahead of helping the nuclear power industry.

The nuclear lobby argues that because we have tiny radioactive sources in things like smoke detectors it is not true for us to claim to be "nuclear-free" Therefore - so the argument runs_ we should adopt nuclear power. But there is a huge leap between smoke detectors and nuclear power plants churning out radioactive waste.

As of 2007, the United States had accumulated more than 50,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel from nuclear reactors. Underground storage at Yucca Mountain in U.S. has been proposed as permanent storage. After 10,000 years of radioactive decay, according to United States Environmental Protection Agency standards, the spent nuclear fuel will no longer pose a threat to public health and safety.

Alternative energy sources, such as wind, tidal, solar and geothermal, which do not have the pollutant waste involved with nuclear, remain far better options.

Wellington's Regular Rates Rise

WELLINGTONIANS face another rates rises this year. The average rates increase is likely to be around five percent - almost twice the inflation rate. The Council's Draft Annual Report also recommends increases to fees and charges for sports fields, burials and cremations, and swimming pools.

At a time when central government is urging people to get fit the Council is proposing a 10% increase in fitness centre fees and 5% in learn to swim programmes. Pool entry fees are expected to increase in 2009. At the other end of the spectrum burial and cremation fees will go up by an average of 8.5%.

Surely its time for much greater rigour to be brought to bear on Council spending. Perhaps the Council could focus more on those items that promote the city's economic development - such as improved infrastructure in the north of the City - and less on some of the never-ending series of Council-sponsored events or the rate-payer funded sculptures dotted around the central city?

The Draft Annual Plan will be debated and finalised for consultation at a council meeting on March 27. Wellingtonians will then get their say between April 16 and May 19. For more information visit www.wellington.govt.nz