Sep 11: Raglan Community Board meeting in Te Uku Hall

This summary of the Sep 11 Raglan Community Board agenda prepared by John Lawson, Secretary of Whāingaroa Environmental Defence Inc., 51 Cliff St, Raglan 07 825 7866 email johnragla@gmail.com

The next Raglan Community Board meeting is Wed 11 September at 1.30pm in Te Uku Hall. The public forum will be near the start of the formal meeting, giving an opportunity to discuss issues. You might prefer to email/phone the Board.

Wednesday’s agenda omits information as highlighted in orange, but includes –

1. More buses from 30 September 2 buses a day and 3 at weekends will run through to Manu Bay (Waikeri) for $58,142 a year (see agenda p26, or WED’s FB page for more detail), but a local bus, “is unlikely to proceed due to cost and conflict with the existing Raglan Shuttle service“.
2. Manu Bay Breakwater “Stakeholder consensus is currently unachievable . . . Because of this, the current recommendation going to Council will be to not continue the process.”
3. Water Reservoir Tower Mural negotiating for a water fountain, lighting and contract with an artist, more planting, 5 bi-lingual signs will show previous artwork, narrative of new mural/artist, site history, water source, use, etc and sponsors, expected to be complete by Christmas (see agenda p17, or WED’s FB page for detail).
4. Wharf “no fishing signs to be installed . . . boatramp . . . two pours being 5.5m wide by 37m long . . . final pour during the next king tide – low tide cycle in mid-September. . . fully open again by mid-October”.
5. Development next to 4 Square “Meet developers of 1 Bankart Street” [no detail].
6. Wi Neera Walkway no mention of lighting, “Southern end – Initial Geotechnical investigation has been completed . . . will explore the different construction options . . . to get the best value for money, while ensuring the proposal factors in key items such as the limited access for large machinery.”
7. Civil Defence – response plan (agenda p30) lists hazards, very brief instructions, emergency contacts and resources and has a tsunami map. “A meeting is planned for second week October to finalise . . . volunteers willing to put in time to be trained and can respond when required.”
8. Soundsplash – “improvements implemented for the 2024 event will be continued and expanded for the 2025 event, such as buses coming from Auckland/Hamilton, shade, and faster processing at security check in”, staff still working on fees options.
9. CCTV – “Gathering data from NZ Police to help with prioritization”.
10. Greenslade Rd Reserve playground – “Updates will be shared with stakeholders”.
11. Community Board Plans – no detail. Our Plan presentation on customer service, costs, safety, risk, etc. Councillor had “Raglan community plan” meeting [no detail].
12. Camp ground – “stormwater project has been awarded to GT Civil. Works will begin in the Papahua Reserve week commencing 2 September including the installation of temporary fencing to allow for the installation of the first manholes and laying of the stormwater pipes. . . cost was well above the engineers estimates only the stormwater works and pumping station will proceed. Roading component will be deferred.”
13. Wainui Beach & Papahua Recreation Reserve car parks – finished.
14. Board Members’ Reports Verbal.
15. Discretionary fund – $14,271 top up for this year, but “carry forwards are yet to be updated”.

    These council items are not on RCB’s agenda –

Waters Governance Board 10/9

new Stormwater Engineer has been appointed and starts on 12 August

“A drilled telecom cable on Upper Cross St damaged a main. A displaced, slumping connection on Upper Cross St was found not to be to code, which caused the failure.”

Te Akau Water Treatment Plant “upgrade work has been delayed due to challenges with the property owner. We are now making progress as the property owner is close to getting consent from the Council. We have decommissioned the old bore and plan to relocate the potable water receiving tank in August. A new rising main from the plant to the reservoir has been completed and commissioned”

There was also a Zoom update on Raglan sewage on 8 August, not attended by any RCB, or WDC politicians. Watercare hope to have the MBR at the sewage works running by this Christmas and, with the cleaner water, they hope to use the gully just south of the pine forest for an outfall pipe on Wainui Reserve (see map on WED FB page, or watch the video of the hui). Watercare aim to complete technical investigations over the next 3 months to show whether it is possible. The next Zoom hui is 6.30pm on Thursday 10 October.

Road Closures for Motor Sport Events Policy 4/9

Postcode	Supports the proposed policy	Did not support
Inside the district	28	15
Outside the district	39	4

“Tony Quinn has made Hampton downs prohibitively expensive for anyone other than elite racers to use. . . The use of District roads to hold car rallies increases greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle use. However, this needs to be balanced against any social, community and/or economic benefits”

Strategy 13/8

“The Future Proof Strategy will be supported by an Implementation Plan which will identify those critical projects or pieces of infrastructure that are essential to the delivery of the strategy, as well as set out the overall work programme for the Future Proof partnership. The Implementation Plan will be considered for adoption by the Future Proof Implementation Committee in Sep. . . Urban form has the ability to reduce carbon emissions from private vehicles (compact growth supported by multi-modal transport) or has the potential to increase carbon emissions from private vehicles (increased housing sprawl). The current settlement pattern based on compact and concentrated growth and the Hamilton-Waikato Metropolitan Spatial plan area is supported by the transport programme business case. Any changes to the settlement pattern should be considered in light of the impacts on carbon emissions. . . .Watercare deciding to disengage from its contract with Council from 30 June 2026 has left our Council in a very tenuous position as we begin the process of developing a 9-year (2025-2034) long term plan. This tenuity arises from the risk of Council facing more disestablishment and re-establishment cost in producing a solution for managing our 3 waters assets in accordance with Local Waters Done Well. Unless we have a solution identified in early 2025, there is a real risk that Council may end up with a qualified audit opinion on our Long Term Plan 2025-2034. . . Satisfaction survey – 40% of residents are satisfied with the Council’s performance, a drop of 9% 31% of residents feel they receive good value for their rates, a drop of 12% – toilets – This year vandalism has increased throughout the district. In 2023/24 there were 54 crashes on roads in the Waikato district, compared to the 2022/23 result of 53. As there was not a reduction of two crashes on the Loss of control on bends continues to be the highest crash type, with loss of control on straight roads and turning crashes increasing this year.The main contributing factors are alcohol/drugs and inappropriate speed and road positioning. The decrease in sealed road resurfacing is largely due to increased costs. retaining Animal Control Officers – high turnover due to the dangerous and negative nature of the work – the South team based in Ngaaruawaahia manage 62% – 15% are classified as dangerous, requiring 2 officers in attendance a time. However, Council has had 3 vacancies since end 2023. Having 2 fully trained officers currently in South – external service provider on a short term contract to provide after hours cover 3 nights. Achieve an emission reduction target of 16% relative to 2023 emissions for the year ended 30 June 2024. Preliminary results show a 9% reduction. Personnel costs are $5.2m above prior year due to increased headcount and market movement increases, partially offset by savings from vacancies, but $2.3m below plan due to delays/difficulty in recruiting staff. Labour turnover has reduced slightly down to 16.9%. $42m of projects at tender or construction phase will carry over into the new year – suggested approach is that the Committee moves, as much as practicable, towards a quarterly meeting cycle.”

Sustainability & Wellbeing Committee 14/8

meeting cancelled for Māori wards meeting/WRC climate slides

Water Governance Board 6/8

“The Kingfisher RTU and Radio upgrade in Raglan is progressing well, with all sites scheduled for completion by the end of July. The project remains on schedule, with 16 wastewater pump stations already upgraded. . . A severe weather incident on Wed, 5 June, resulted in a total power outage in Raglan for >30 hours before the power was restored. The water treatment plant and several large pump stations were operated on an emergency generator. Sucker trucks were used to empty smaller pump stations into the larger ones to avoid overflows. Due to the limited number of generators available, they needed to be moved to maintain the operation of the network during the outage. The water treatment plant is in a remote bush location and had to be manned from 5-7 June until we received notification that power had been restored. The WWTP inlet step screen was lifted to allow pumped flow directly from the local pump stations to the pond system. The WWTP final discharge pumps and UV plant were initiated and monitored by an on-site process engineer using an emergency generator, with discharges on outgoing tides during daylight hours only. Communication was lost at the base station on Bow St reservoir, resulting in no remote visibility of all Raglan sites. Wel Energy website was continually updated indicating the outage would be resolved in 2 hours, this continued over the day, into the evening and the morning of the 6th. We contacted Wel that morning and were informed the cause had not been located, and an incident was called at that point. Several staff had worked overnight, so transport was arranged to drive them back from Raglan. Even after making contact, we were not informed power had been restored at 9 pm on the 6th until we made contact on the morning of the 7th. This resulted in the team unnecessarily working overnight and additional generator and sucker truck costs. We have contacted Wel to discuss improved communication in the future. . . WWTP upgrade will return the process to compliance. The reactor tank base is complete, and the wall construction is underway. The detailed M&E plant design has been submitted, and returned comments are being actioned. Construction of the sewer pipework will follow, followed by forming the building and screening platform.”

Other issues missing from the RCB agenda – stormwater (2024 annual meeting not held), Te Uku Recycling Centre, freedom camping, footpath obstruction by cafes, Wainui Reserve 30-50 year plan, old Harbour Care site, Manu Bay planting, Raglan Naturally, Coastal Reserves (last annual meeting was Sep 2022), structure plan, overflow car parking, waste collection, Papahua erosion, fluoride, off-shore windfarm, Community Energy Whāingaroa, roading, Blueprints, water pipes, organic waste, rubbish on SH23, Area School road safety, 3 Bow St,  Greenslade Rd SH23 junction, Connectivity Strategy, Surf2surf walkway, speeding on Main Rd, WEL EV Charger, Harbour Strategy, Animal Control late responses, cycle counts, Bayview Rd safety, Canada geese, Cliff St, Park Dr/Long St crossing, town square, Town Hall Committee, WRAP, Calvert Rd parking, volunteer worker safety, Puriri Park.

Should WED be taking up these or other issues?