Welcome to the 6th e-Newsletter
This month we have a range of opinion pieces on CityWatch NZ. These cover the Te Huia Train service, Hamilton City Council finances, and perspectives from candidates in the Tauranga City Councilelection. CityWatch NZ encourages locals to get involved in both the Tauranga election and the by-election for Hamilton’s Maaori Ward seat. (CityWatch NZ will be continuing to cover both elections next month).
Hamilton City Council’s Long-Term Plan is due to be finalised in early July and we have provided updated information and links to the public consultation hearings on this issue.
For over a decade communities on the Kāpiti coast have been challenging climate change models which impact people’s property rights. With local and national authorities looking to implement climate change ‘adaptation’ around New Zealand, much can be learnt from the individuals and groups challenging the agenda on the Kāpiti coast.
The issues surrounding climate change adaptation, computer models, and ‘managed retreat’ have been receiving significant media coverage this month. Reports have been released and a parliamentary consultation round was closed after being open for less than a month. This newsletter will feature a summary of both the Kāpiti coast situation and agendas operating at a national level.
THE TE HUIA TRAIN
The Te Huia train service runs between Hamilton and Auckland. CityWatch NZ has started covering the situation with the Te Huia train with an opinion piece. Next month, CityWatch NZ will feature at least one further article on Te Huia.
OPINION: Te Huia or Te Toroa? The costly rail service.
HAMILTON CITY COUNCIL FINANCES
This month we continued focusing on the financial situation faced by Hamilton City Council. We have three opinion pieces relating to council spending and revenue collection.
OPINION: The Orange Cone Infestation
OPINION: Understanding Development Contributions
TAURANGA CITY COUNCIL ELECTION 2024
Voting opens on 29 June 2024 and closes at noon on Saturday 20 July 2024.
Tauranga City Council Election 2024.
CityWatch NZ invited all candidates (who provided a contact email address) to contribute opinion pieces. The opinion pieces received are linked below.
CANDIDATE OPINION: Anthony Goddard
CANDIDATE OPINION: Abraham (Bram) van Berkel
CANDIDATE OPINION: Jacqueline Pointon
For further details see the Tauranga City Council webpage, https://www.tauranga.govt.nz/council/about-your-council/elections-2024
If there is an upcoming local by-election or local politics event you think CityWatch NZ should be covering, email the details to contact@citywatchnz.org and we will see what we can do.
HAMILTON CITY COUNCIL KIRIKIRIROA MAAORI WARD BY-ELECTION 2024
Hamilton City Council is having another by-election in 2024 for one of the City’s Maaori Ward seats. Voting opens on 16 July 2024 and closes at noon on Wednesday 7 August 2024. For further details see the Hamilton City Council webpage or the CityWatch NZ post which will cover the upcoming by-election, Hamilton City Council Kirikiriroa Maaori Ward By-election 2024. All candidates who provide a contact email address will be invited to provide an opinion piece for by-election coverage on CityWatch NZ.
HAMILTON LONG-TERM PLAN CONSULTATION UPDATE
The public consultation for Hamilton City Council’s Long-Term Plan is finished. The Hamilton City Council is scheduled to vote to approve the Long-term plan on the 4th of July 2024. CityWatch NZ has posted lists of highlight presentations which capture the major issues raised during those hearings. Highlights for all three days have been posted.
Hamilton City Council Long-Term Plan Hearings: Day 1 Highlights
Hamilton City Council Long-Term Plan Hearings: Day 2 Highlights
Hamilton City Council Long-Term Plan Hearings: Day 3 Highlights
The “STOP HAMILTON CITY COUNCIL RATE INCREASES” petition has gathered over 1400 signatures and is still open. Share this petition link widely to support.
https://www.change.org/p/stop-hamilton-city-council-rate-increases
[If you are forwarding people the link to a change.org petition, let people know that they don’t need to pay anything to sign a petition. The change.org website often asks for a payment, though it is optional]
Email your Hamilton City Councillors if you have views on the rates increases; “service reductions”; or the inability of Council staff to find larger savings. If you object to the proposed Long-term Plan, let your Councillors know that this will effect how you will vote in the next election.
Email addresses for Hamilton City Councillors
CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION POLICIES, COMPUTER MODELS, AND MANAGED RETREAT
Climate change adaptation issues and the threat managed retreat have become very prominent in the last month. The controversial Takutai Kāpiti Coastal Advisory Panel has now published its report.
The Report of the Independent Coastal Advisory Panel favoured the “Dynamic Adaptive Pathways Planning” approach and recommended that a Kāpiti Coastal Adaptation Plan be put in place. The report also featured this statement from the Coastal Advisory Panel Chair and former Prime Minister Jim Bolger...
“One of the foremost concerns we heard revolves around the projected rise in sea levels and its potential impact on private homes. It is understandable that these concerns weigh heavily, as a family's home often represents their most significant asset. However, it is not solely about safeguarding personal homes; the accessibility of homes and services through roads and sewerage systems is equally crucial. In essence, the threat of coastal inundation resulting from sea level rise poses significant risks to individuals and communities alike.
During our engagement with the community, the CAP encountered differing viewpoints, including some who disputed the scientific consensus and downplayed the risks posed to property and wellbeing. These dissenting voices often challenged the scientific basis; however, we have focussed on reaching out to the community through various channels to understand their concerns. Our core responsibility has, I believe, remained intact—to gather community input comprehensively and reflect their perspectives in our report to the Council. Now, it's up to the Council to review our findings and use as a basis to get wide agreement on appropriate measures.”
Rt Hon James Bolger, ONZ, PC in the Preface of the Takutai Kāpiti Coastal Hazard Adaptation Project: Report of the Independent Coastal Advisory Panel
Radio New Zealand ran two articles, one was on the Kāpiti CAP report and the other was on the community opposition. These articles noted the history of the local disputes regarding the impacts of climate change modelling...
“The Takutai Kāpiti report was commissioned in 2021 after the council tried to put erosion warnings on LIMs (land information memorandums for properties) in 2012.
It was taken to court twice by affected residents, who said the science relied on estimates of sea level rise and coastal erosion that were far too extreme, and the information was misleading. The courts sided with the council.
But a year later, an independent panel found the science was not robust enough, and the information was removed from LIMS.” RNZ, Report reveals climate change risks in Kāpiti, 16 June 2024
Towards the end of May 2024, the government put out a call for public submissions for the Finance and Expenditure Committee's Inquiry into climate adaptation. Giving the public less than a month to engage with this consultation round, the submissions closed on the 16th of June 2024. Individuals and groups involved with the Kāpiti issues were interviewed on Reality Check Radio, including Kāpiti Lawyer Sean Rush, Coastal Ratepayers United spokeswomen Salima Padamsey, as well as Kāpiti C.A.L.M. spokeswomen Tanya Lees and Carolyn Evans. The people of Kāpiti are at the forefront of opposing these climate change adaptation agendas. The rest of New Zealand should pay attention to what has been happening in Kāpiti as these agendas are being positioned to impact more of the country.
Taituarā (formally known as the New Zealand Society of Local Government Managers) is lobbying the government for greater powers for conducting ‘managed retreat’. The submission of Taituarā to the Inquiry into climate adaptation included the following statements...
“Insurance retreat is inevitable. Members will probably have seen media reports of individual property owners and small groups of property owners being unable to insure properties in flood-prone areas/areas assessed as a future flood risk...
...Decision-makers needs stronger and clearer powers to acquire land. Retreat is one of the core tools needed to support adaptation and fundamental to retreat is the notion that the landowner surrenders the right to use or occupy the land (with compensation usually). The power to acquire land is therefore a key element of retreat...
...Governments, central and local, need clearer stated powers to acquire land for retreat purposes. The Public Works Act 1981 governs the acquisition of land by public agencies for public works which a local authority are defined as: “a work constructed or intended to be constructed by or under the control of a local authority, or for the time being under the control of a local authority”. It is arguable that the acquisition of land to remove it from use to prevent development is actually empowered under this Act.” Taituarā – Local Government Professionals Aotearoa, Submission to the Inquiry into Climate Adaptation, June 2024
If people are not moved off their land due to difficulties getting insurance or compulsory land acquisition, the bureaucrats (represented by Taituarā) are looking to use “red zone” policies to deprive remaining “holdouts” of affordable services. The “holdouts” will likely be threatened with excessively expensive charges for core services and/or have those core services disconnected.
Further quotes from Taituarā and coverage of the June meeting at Kāpiti Coast District Council are included in this article…
Kāpiti Coastal Advisory Panel and managed retreat: June 2024 updates
Computer models are central to most climate change issues. Computer models will be used to determine future flood risk putting land titles in hazard zones. In some cases these ‘modelled risks’ will be used to increase insurance costs or make property uninsurable. These computer models will likely be used by bureaucrats to trigger various “managed retreat” policies. This could include compulsory land acquisition or the removal of core services. In the name of climate change policy, extreme and unrealistic computer model scenarios are often used. RCP8.5 is one of these extreme scenarios and CityWatch NZ has recently published an explainer article on RCP8.5.
If there is a central government consultation that you think is important to city issues, email the consultation details to contact@citywatchnz.org and we can post the links.
UPCOMING ISSUES
Over the next few months CityWatch NZ will be focusing on the following issues…
The Te Huia Train between Hamilton and Auckland.
The Funding and Influence of Taituarā.
Growing Council Debts and Other Issues with Council Finances.
City Council Surveillance Capabilities and the Push for Road Pricing Schemes (Congestion Charges and Similar).
Auckland Transport’s “Traffic Calming“ and Emergency Vehicles
Three Waters Reforms.
We have opinion pieces arriving on many of these issues and more are welcome. CityWatch NZ is open to covering many different sides of these issues. If you are interested in volunteering an opinion piece or know of someone who could write a good opinion piece about these issues, email content@citywatchnz.org for more information.
The rest of this e-newsletter contains information which was posted in previous newsletters.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP CITYWATCH NZ?
We need more groups added to our directories of Local Group Contact Details and Issue-based Group Contact Details. If you know of a local group challenging or engaging with local government or a New Zealand-wide group focused on relevant issues, send them a link to CityWatchNZ.org and ask them to email contact@citywatchnz.org. We will email them back with a template and ask their permission to add their group to the directory.
As the website grows, and especially if we look to creating regional sub-newsletters, we will need the help of volunteers and potentially contractors. If you have an interest or background in editing or creating content and want to help CityWatchNZ grow, email contact@citywatchnz.org with a brief description of your skill set including whether you are interested in volunteer work and/or paid contractor work.
CITYWATCHNZ.ORG WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
CityWatch NZ is running more active investigations on various issues and will be posting more articles to the website over the next three months. A number of future explainer articles are being worked on to bring attention to the groups, agendas, policies, and terminology being used to reshape our cities. We are planning to gradually add more regions to the website, especially those regions with active groups challenging their councils.
We hope to be posting some wins in 2024. We want CityWatch NZ to feature articles and case studies about communities who were successful in resisting or reversing the unwanted changes imposed upon them. These should be more than just brief ‘feel good’ stories and feature details on tactics and approaches which were effective so that people around New Zealand can learn from successful groups and campaigns.
It will be helpful if people share CityWatchNZ.org content on social media. Note that Twitter (X) may not like Substack links. If you have a request for features that would help with sharing content on social media or staying up-to-date with CityWatch NZ content, email your suggestions to feedback@citywatchnz.org and we will see what we can do.
THE ‘WHAT IS TO BE DONE’ SERIES OF OPINION PIECES
CityWatch NZ is planning to post a series of ‘What is to be Done’ opinion pieces in 2024. The purpose of this series is to share a wide range of ideas to facilitate solving problems with local government and urban development in New Zealand. Given the many issues facing local government, reforms will be needed in the near future. We at CityWatch NZ consider it important that well-informed discussions about the underlying problems and any proposed reforms take place in a public forum.
If you are interested in volunteering an opinion piece or know of someone who can write on these issues, email content@citywatchnz.org for more information.
SUBSTACK E-NEWSLETTER
At this stage, the plan is to keep the e-Newsletters freely available without needing a paid Substack subscription. We are emailing a monthly e-Newsletter summarising our website content on Substack. We are open to feedback and suggestions to improve the newsletter. We are also planning to create a feature whereby people can subscribe to a ‘sub-Substack’ email list for a version of the newsletters focused on a specific region or city.
Aside from the monthly e-Newsletters, the Substack email list will be used for informing subscribers of time-critical issues. We will endeavour to only send these ‘urgent’ emails sparingly, However, projects being rushed-through with minimal consultation is a quite normal when dealing with local government. This means that rapid responses may be needed on a variety of issues.
The Substack platform also has other features such as polls which could be useful in the future for surveying our readers. We plan to trial some of these features in 2024.