22 February 2013

Council Concerned at Potential Stopping of School Bus Services

The Waikato District Council is concerned about the proposal by the Ministry of Education to withdraw funding for school bus services in Huntly and Ngaruawahia.

The two routes within the Waikato district are among a number bus routes the Ministry is looking at across the Waikato. The Ministry is in discussions with the Waikato Regional Council who runs the services.

“The loss of these heavily subscribed services will be a blow to our communities,” said Councillor Noel Smith, chair of the council’s Roading and Transportation Committee.

“We urge the Ministry and the Regional Council to take all possible steps to find a way to ensure these vital services are retained, or else transfer the currently allocated level of funding to another provider,” Cr Smith said.

The current commercial services that run at morning and afternoon peak times do not have the capacity to carry the additional numbers of school pupils that currently use the school bus service, Cr Smith said. It would not be commercially viable to purchase additional buses to transport the children to school, and leave them idle for the rest of the day, Cr Smith added.

Waikato District Mayor Allan Sanson said “getting our children to school is a critical investment in the future of our district, so we need a resolution to this issue which sees school bus services retained.”
ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On The 2013 Budget

Among Thursday’s main talking points:

We are apparently on track for a margin-of-error $75 million surplus, now in sight for 2014/15. But this sickly creature is hobbling out of the lab on the basis of all kinds of facilitative conjuring: such as trimming by $200 million the amount of new spending next time around.

With this strictly nominal surplus in sight, the 1984-ish justification for eternal austerity will have a news talisman: namely, getting Crown debt down to 20% of GDP by 2020. More>>

Budget Report, Lockup Audio & Images: Budget Day 2013 As always and especially after the managerial mishaps of the past few weeks and months, (e.g. Aaron Gilmore, the Mighty River Power share float, the GCSB mishaps) Budget Day 2013 was always going to be a pageant of reassurance... More>>

Budget 2013 Comment: Plain Sailing, But It's No America's Cup Pattrick Smellie: Compared to the last four budgets, this year's reflects an economy moving out of recession and into calmer waters... Yet if the fastest annual growth rate we can expect over the next two years is 3 percent - with the Christchurch rebuild in full swing - then you'd have to say New Zealand's underlying low-growth problem is far from fixed. More>>

Auckland Discord: Govt’s Power Hungry Housing Approach A Threat - Labour

Last week the Government said this, ‘The Government commits not to use any proposed or existing powers ... to override the council's planning and consenting processes’. But its housing Bill says this; ‘If an accord cannot be reached in an area of severe housing unaffordability, the Government can intervene by establishing special housing areas and issuing consents for developers’. More>>

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Extending Protest Ban, Relaxing Permit Rules: Govt Abuses Urgency To Extend Anadarko Amendment

The Government is trying to pass legislation under urgency which would make the Anadarko Amendment – which limits protest at sea – apply to an additional 1.7 million square kilometres, the Green Party said today. More>>

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