Deputy Mayors Message: Time to get engaged

Engaging residents in the decision-making process is an important part of good governance and helps elected members to consider and understand the varying views of our residents.

The goal is to encourage deliberation, reflection, and learning on issues to build common ground by reconciling various interests involved and to arrive at a more informed and balanced outcome.

As a support for local democracy and platform for civic participation, community engagement aims to empower people and communities to have their say on issues that affect their everyday life.

Coming up, there are a number issues for the residents of Whakatū Nelson to have their input into. These include:

• The Council’s submission on the Water Services Entities Bill, the next stage in the Government’s Three Waters reform programme
• The formulation of a long-term strategy for adapting and preparing Whakatū Nelson for the impacts of a changing climate as part of the Dynamic Adaptive Planning Pathways (DAPP) process
• The development of a new Arts and Creative Strategy for the region
• The draft Active Travel Strategy will provide a framework (and guidance) to deliver a programme of investment over the next 10-15 years that will achieve a sustainable change to our travel characteristics.

As a Council, we are committed to an active engagement programme with our community and where possible, we have attempted to go the extra mile to allow residents to have their say, for example, the setting up of public meetings to hear Three Waters feedback.

As with many processes these days, we are having to operate within tight time frames so I encourage everyone to go to shape.nelson.govt.nz to get information about the engagement options for each of these initiatives as well as information about the individual issues.

To make the most of your opportunity to contribute to the discussion on any of these topics, it’s important to gather as much information and background as you can and to clearly identify the things that are important to you.

It’s also important to remember that we all benefit when people bring suggested solutions to the discussion table, if possible, not just concerns.

All the matters being discussed in these engagement processes are important in shaping the future of our city. We value and appreciate the time and effort our residents put into our engagement processes. The more input we have the better off we will all be.

Deputy Mayor Judene Edgar