Brian Anderson The Western Front www.sunlive.co.nz

A Future Focus roadshow is coming to Katikati, Maketu and Waihi Beach in the next few months. The community partnership committee of the Western Bay of Plenty District Council has decided on a campaign to spread its doctrine out of Omokoroa to the rest of the Bay.

It is expected that we will all see the light, recognise the council's wisdom and enter into a new fruitful relationship with council. I have studied their literature. I don't trust their doctrine, I don't trust their intentions for our souls and they are obviously after our bodies.

The old era

Any evangelist offers you freedom from the chains of your past. In this case our chains are our confusion caused by the council's inability to keep in touch effectively with our community. Council's communication system includes community boards, a service request system and opportunities to submit suggestions to draft council planning all of which is overseen by the democracy staff. It is not working. The community boards have been given no authority, no money and are limited to advising on service requests. Submissions to the district plan were mostly from hurt landowners looking for some exemption from clumsy draconian regulations or from developers trying to bypass a full consents process. Ninety per cent of the thousand submissions to the last annual plan were for cyclists and dogs. There is very little healthy cooperation or interaction between the council and the public. There is certainly very little two-way communication.

The new error

To plan for our future we should first find out what has gone wrong with council's relationship with the community and consider ways that it might be improved. Unfortunately council never admits anything is wrong and, true to form with their Omokoroa model, they are trying to throw the baby out with the bathwater. The new system which is almost a caricature of the current system is loaded with promises and designed to solve council problems while keeping the general public at arm's length. The new model relies heavily on the concept of divide and rule with different sections of the community being offered different promises for their cooperation while the rest of the population is expected to be subservient, believe all of the council's promotional material, accept council decisions and pay their rates on time.

New thinking needed

Omokoroa residents have endured a number of these Future Focus meetings and most don't bother turning up any more. If the community is going to be able to move to a more healthy relationship with a supportive council we only have these three meetings to understand council direction and come up with a better idea. Next week, I will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the Omokoroa model, look at other alternatives and our possible role in a new working relationship with council. Whatever new system evolves, it will be on our head. The success of any participatory democracy is a direct consequence of how much we participate in it.