WED raises concerns with Mayor about native trees being replaced with exotics in Raglan CBD

A letter to Allan Sanson, Mayor of Waikato District from Whaingaroa Environmental Def

ence

5th June 2019

Dear Mayor

As you probably know Waikato District Council has recently removed many native trees and plants from Raglan’s CBD, which are to be replaced by a mix of native and exotic plants.

After one local stood in front of a council digger to halt further removal of native plants, a drop-in session was arranged.

WED is concerned at several aspects of this issue and hopes that you will be able to commit to Council making improvements to the way similar future schemes are dealt with.

WED’s primary concern is how this became a top priority of Council, such that consultation had to be rushed (and therefore very limited) and is apparently of such high priority that no one knows its cost, that it has no budget and yet that seemingly it can have any amount spent on it until it works. Therefore WED would like answers to these questions –

1. How much will the whole scheme cost?
2. What budget is this being funded from?
3. What reports were put to elected representatives about this scheme and its finances and when?
4. Why has this scheme taken precedence over other projects in the Long Term Plan, in Raglan Community Board’s list of priority projects, or in Raglan Naturally?
5. Why did public consultation not take place until all decisions had been made?
6. Why was the drop-in session not at a time to suit working people?
7. Does Council intend to run such schemes better in future?
8. If so, what changes will be made and how will they be implemented and achieved consistently?

Yours sincerely

Malibu Hamilton, Linda Silvester, Sheryl Hart & John Lawson

for WED.