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

As I mentioned last week, the Kauri Point Boat Ramp was up for consultation with Maori for their approval. Let's be fair. If you had been telling everybody about your expensive pet project for 10 years and only told your wife at the last minute you deserve all you get – or don't get, as the case may be.

With the resounding ‘no way Hose' – a loose translation from the Maori – we can still be thankful that the council has had its Plan B waiting in the pipeline for the last three years. The council has included everyone around the harbour in a recreational strategy and forum that allows them to develop their planning with the people rather than in secret. Alternative plans for the harbour for all the people of the Bay have been discussed in the forums – so all that it needed now is for Western Bay District Council to take their place in the Integrated Harbour Management Strategy planning that they initiated in 2008.
I am particularly pleased and look forward to their frank thinking, openness and transparency and we will be able to celebrate their foresight. We also hope the All Blacks have a Plan B this time too – then we will really be able to celeb