These were the topics discussed –
The Wellington City Council Annual Plan consultation.
We went through the consultation document and decided to focus discussion at this meeting on items directly affecting residents in this area. You can see the completed submission here.
We need to be more prepared for this consultation in future years. It is preferable to make submissions on the items to include in the Annual Plan in the pre-planning phase, but the call for such submissions came out in January and we don’t have business meetings in December or January. We plan to discuss our ideas in November this year for the 2017 Plan.
WCC Dog Policy and Animal Bylaw.
There was support for the majority of these proposals, but there was concern about the costs of microchipping and registering cats, and mixed feelings about a ban on feeding animals (including birds) in public places. In general the preference was for policies and guidelines without draconian enforcement. See the NRA submissions – Dog Policy, and Animal Bylaw.
The outcome of the WCC Community, Sport and Recreation Committee meeting on 13th April about the recent report and recommendations on Begging.
The committee decided to accept the recommendation to manage issues through “street management” rather than attempt bans. David Wilcock made a submission to the committee on behalf of Newtown Business Association, outlining problems with people begging in the vicinity of Newtown Mall, often with intimidatory behaviour. In the days following this there was increased Police presence on the street, and it was noticeable that there were fewer problems. There is also a ‘Street Outreach’ multi-agency team who try to make contact and work with the people who are begging. Local Hosts (green uniform) who are employed by Council and are part of the Outreach team make regular visits to Newtown.
A report on the Mt Victoria Transport Forum on 12th April
The Mt Victoria Newsletter convened this meeting to discuss the ‘Let’s get Wellington Moving’ public engagement process with Wellington City Council, Greater Wellington Regional Council and the NZ Transport Agency. Our representatives who attended were impressed by the willingness to listen and not impose proposals. Consultation began 6th April, and is open for 6 weeks until mid-May. See http://getwellymoving.co.nz to take the online survey – the more people who make their wishes known the better.
Berhampore Community Centre
Recently opened, based at the Centennial Flats on Adelaide Rd. Merio Masters is the Co-ordinator. There was a public meeting on 6th April that Peter Frater and Rhona Carson attended. It was primarily about running the Community Centre, but there was also some discussion about reviving the Berhampore Residents’ Association. Peter was a member of this Association before it went into recess and believes it is still needed so that Berhampore has a focus for consultation with WCC about local issues. We would be happy to support its revival if this is wanted.
FixIt.
We discussed collecting FixIt response data, so we have hard stats on how it is working in our area. Graffiti and Health and Safety issues seem to be addressed quickly but cleaning, landscaping, etc, seem to be more problematic. Reports are acknowledged and sometimes there are phone calls asking for more information, but we wish there was also feedback about the outcome.
The wider issue is that we want on-going maintenance checked and followed up without it being necessary for residents to draw attention to it. We are looking for ideas regarding what to do if we don’t get a response to the rubbish issues.
Newtown Community Police Station
A volunteer in an Auckland community office was attacked and Police have closed these offices at present because of Health and Safety concerns, so our local Police Sation will be closed until further notice.
newtown.org.nz 