The Weekend Sun is a free community newspaper and on-line news service (www.sunlive.co.nz) that publishes a weekly column by City Councillor Bill Faulkner. Bill uses the column to give his slant on Council activities, and vent his feelings about various issues.
Last weekend he wrote this: "We also adopted social infrastructure planning guidelines on the basis that it's what council already does and I supported it on this basis. Staff assured us that it was not an open chequebook for any future socialist minded council to open the floodgates for 'do-gooding'. Many of us thought that it reeked of community ratepayers action pay up".
I am a proud and self-confessed 'do-gooder', and my role as Tauranga Safe City Coordinator brings me daily into contact with many other 'do-gooders' who work tirelessly and unselfishly to make Tauranga a safer, healthier and more liveable place. I am really interested to know what other people think about these comments. Personally I find Cr Faulkner's comments comtemptuous, dismissive and offensive. Let's examine why.
The Local Government Act 2002 provides a clear purpose for local government (Part 2, section10). This purpose recognises that local authorities are able to provide community governance at the local level and make a significant contribution to social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being.
Furthermore, the Act requires local authorities to facilitate a process with their communities, to identify community outcomes for the intermediate and long term future of the district or region. Identifying community outcomes is designed to promote better co-ordination and application of community resources, and inform and guide priorities for activities udertaken by local authorities and other organisations. The local authorities' role is to facilitate the contribution of other local authorities, government agencies, local organisations and the business sector make to the outcomes and priorities identified by the community. The Act requires Councils to prepare 10-year Long Term Council Community Plans that are reviewed every three years. The LTCCP's show the Community Outcomes and priorities, and what activities the Council will undertake to achieve them.
In other words, Council has an important role to play in ensuring the social needs of the community are being met - which can include coordination and planning for social infrastructure, and by directly investing in programmes and services that contribute to positive social outcomes. This is not the domain of 'socialist minded' councils, but the responsibility of every local authority. Tauranga City Council is alone as a local authority with a population of over 100,000 because it has no community development personnel. Consequently, its ability to facilitate, coordinate and mobilise government, local government and community resources is severely limited.
Tauranga Safe City is a successful multi-agency partnership that has a focus on crime prevention, injury prevention and community safety. As a collaborative project, it contributes significantly to the Council's ability to meet its obligations under the Local Government Act (social wellbeing and community outcomes). Tauranga City Council contributes no funding to Tauranga Safe City, but provides 'in-kind' management and financial support from within existing staff resources.
The discussion concerning social infrastructure planning guidelines has exposed a 'blind-spot' within Tauranga City Council. The needs of a growing population and changing demographic require a proactive approach to community planning. This is not about 'opening the floodgates' but rather, about taking a proactive leadership role in achieving positive community outcomes. It is about investment in social wellbeing. The people of Tauranga need to decide if they want more from their Council; and the people who commit their time and energy , much of it voluntary, to improving the quality of life of the community deserve better.
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