Collaboration To Decide Far North Holding's Intent?

Making residents' voices heard

Seachange, before the elections, proposed an action plan for Council which included "Collaboration with Far North residents to develop a new Statement of Intent and new Terms of Reference for Far North Holdings Limited (FNHL)". Last August we offered input to a survey and to support the process. October has passed but regular surveys of residents, in Seachange's opinion, are no less necessary now.

We here offer Council a draft of a survey to discover how residents view FNHL.

We offer only suggestions but they indicate the areas which we believe are ripe for the surveying of opinion.

I do you the honour of assuming that you have read all the relevant emails. I for one hate being told in a talk the information already supplied. Here I am standing in for Jane [Banfield] and her examples come from her area. Puketiti and the waterfront at Russell have also raised the ire of many. You who represent the various communities will know of more examples.

We at seachange are suggesting, again, that Council reconsider the role it has assigned to FNHL. We believe the public should be consulted about that reconsideration. To us it seems that the new objectives mandated for Local Government, the four wellnesses, require that Council revoke or change its decision (or the decision of a previous Mayor) that profitability is the appropriate mission.

In my own opinion, from the way I am able to understand Council's accounts, the size of profits from the 'investments' Council has made in FNHL are so miniscule compared to income from rates that no profit or loss or even income and liability has any effect on rates.

What matters is how any of Council's activities, whether direct or by means of its holding company, contribute to the broad wellbeing of the Far North District.

Author, Judith Reinken, for SEA CHANGE