Andrew von Dadelszen Former Regional Councillor

What a disappointment it is to see that our regional councillors haven't taken a strong stand to protect water quality.

The Regional Pest Management (Strategy) Plan goes before full council this week for ratification and it has failed to address the issue that science now shows: gorse leaches the same amount of nitrogen into our waterways on a per hectare basis as dairy cows.

They cite fairness and equity for sidestepping this, but with the amount of both regional ratepayer and central government taxpayer funds going into the Rotorua lakes cleanup (with very limited success to date) it is time that the regional council took some hard decisions and got on with the job – shame on you for not addressing this issue head-on. This also impacts for the Tauranga harbour where increased nutrification encourages sea lettuce to flourish. We need gorse banished from our harbour catchments as urgently as the Rotorua lakes do.

It is also astounding to note that council staff have recommended that the title of the ‘Regional Pest Management Strategy' be changed to a ‘Regional Pest Management Plan'. The report to council explains this as aligning to the requirements proposed in the Biosecurity Law Reform Bill, but for me – ‘strategy' is vision and ‘planning' is execution. Research feeds strategy and strategy informs planning. Therefore you need both a strategy (a longer-term vision) which will be followed up with a definitive (shorter-term) action plan. I know our planners like to wordsmith documents to death, but I would much prefer more affirmative action against pests and weeds like gorse, which will result in better environmental outcomes.

If you have a view on these or any other local government issues, I invite you to email me.

Email: andrew@vond.co.nz