Councillor's Comment: Challenges and Opportunities

I am a newbie to serving on Council. I have done many things in the private world but nothing like this. I was not prepared for the myriad of rules and regulations we have to work under and it greatly restricts what can and can’t be achieved.

I am on a taskforce looking into our 694ha of plantation forestry and how we should continue in the future. There are some wonderful opportunities for enhancing our city and recreational opportunities. This group has some excellent advisers and I hope we will be able to put in place their recommendations.

Climate change is going to bring huge challenges to Council and I believe we need to make our city more resilient. While it is usual to try and solve issues like this using legislation from above, I think in the case of climate change we need a bottom-up approach. Little things we can do as individuals is how it needs to change such as composting/bokashi our own waste and growing vegetables. It solves a waste problem with no cost and produces food with only our own sweat equity. Food does not come from a supermarket, which is just a middleman.

Proposed Plan Change 29 is a big change for Nelson; we need to get it right. We cannot keep building on our food-producing land. Stoke and The Wood was where our fruit and vegetables came from when I was a kid and now they’re residential. The next best land is being built on as well – here and in Richmond. We need to keep Nelson’s character and also build where it’s safe from the effects of climate change.

The planning that was in place 20 years 40 years or 60 years ago for our present housing, for better or worse, did not take into account the possibility of high-rise buildings or climate change. Proposed Plan Change 29 has some suggestions about where the rules could be changed, which would enable high-rise to be built more easily in some areas. Also, with all the new housing developments going on around the city we should maybe explore the possibility of “greenfield” high-rise development. We want to know what you think of these suggestions and hear what you think about the planning rules for housing in our city.

I urge you to have your say, there are people at council who can help you make a submission. I hope you take the opportunity to do so.