Matt Cowley Tauranga City Councillor

I'm guessing the media this week painted Council as the uncaring, bureaucratic villain that doesn't listen to parts of its community.

This follows Council's decision on Tuesday not to change our policy setting out how and when we use toxic chemicals to control vegetation.

Council controls weeds so people can use recreation areas, sand dunes can hold sand to protect us during storm events, and various other environmental benefits.

Our preference is to use methods other than sprays, for example mechanical removal, to control weeds where we can. But in some cases, removal by either machine, or hand, is a lot more expensive and the weeds quickly grow back.

Staff reviewed 20 other council policies from around NZ and found we were one of the most restrictive in terms of spray use.

We believe our policy does a balanced job. We've agreed to a bunch of actions to ensure our staff and contractors work within the policy.

We totally respect the genuine concerns of residents, including one person who showed us medical evidence why we need to avoid spraying around him.

It's largely a communication issue. We need to get better at telling you why, when, and how we're going to control vegetation; and residents need to give us an early heads up of any issues.

In other news, we met our peers from Western Bay of Plenty District Council on Wednesday. We are interested in supporting a regional cycle trail along the coast. But the project is subject to more detailed information and financial discussions in our draft Long Term Plan.

Also at the meeting, Tourism Bay of Plenty presented their statement of intent for the next three years. I'm pleased to see a greater focus on reaching potential tourists where they make their decisions – which is usually in their home on the computer.

Priority One also reported on the steady progress the Western Bay is making on building the economy.

My column last week on housing un-affordability got a mix of good and bad responses – the most I've received to date. It's a very complex issue where I would've provided technical evidence if I didn't have a word limit and it wasn't being published in a community newspaper.

It was written to encourage you to look at the problem differently and show other ways we can reduce the costs of living.

Feel free to email me your thoughts (matt.cowley@tauranga.govt.nz), call/text me on 027 6989 548, and follow me at www.facebook.com/a.younger.voice.