Mon 19 Sep 2016

The Taranaki Regional Council finished the 2015/2016 year in a strong financial position, its record intact as one of the country’s lowest rating local authorities.

The Annual Report, adopted by the Council today (19 September), shows an end-of-year surplus of $963,000. Expenditure was $373,000 over budget, in large part due to unbudgeted emergency funding to assist those in need following winter storm damage last year.

“We believe the report is good reading,” says the Council Chairman, David MacLeod.

“At a time when many sectors of the regional community are facing increased pressures, all of us at the Council are more mindful than ever of our responsibility to be as efficient as possible in our mission to work for a thriving and prosperous region.”

Highlights of the year included:

• More encouraging results from the Council’s state of the environment monitoring, most especially for Taranaki’s crucial freshwater resource.

• The Council’s flagship freshwater project, the Riparian Management Programme, going from strength to strength. By the end of June 2016, more than 4.3 million native plants had been supplied to landowners.

• Completion, on time and within budget, of the $3.4 million project to increase Waitara’s flood protection to a one-in-100-year standard.

• Good progress in the redevelopment of Pukeiti.

• Years of advocacy by the Council bearing fruit with the Government’s announcement in January of multimillion-dollar bypass projects at Mt Messenger and Awakino Tunnel.

• Responding to 585 reports and complaints of pollution and other environmental incidents.

• Processing 100% of resource consents within RMA timeframes for the 16th straight year.

• Extending the coverage of Biodiversity Plans to 3,370ha of ecologically important habitats on private land.

• Exceeding 605,600 passenger trips on Council-provided bus services.

Mr MacLeod says the Council puts a high priority on community engagement, and this is reflected in its record. Last year, for example, Council staff talked to landowners on approximately 9,500 occasions to help them implement plans to protect land and water, and met with thousands of others to discuss and progress good water management.

“We will continue to engage and work with people so that together, we can make Taranaki the place we all want it to be,” he says.

The full Annual Report will be published on the Council website, www.trc.govt.nz, and a summary will be distributed with community newspapers in mid October.

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