Yep. Under pressure. My big toe. Had part of the nail removed last December In Taumarunui. Cost $18. It did not work. It has been a real sore place ever since. Not even manuka honey could fix it. I finally seceded to the inevitable, after shopping around, to getting it attended to again. Cost $250. Plus $25 dollars x 2 to get it dressed here in Levin. Had another price from the podiatrist for $400. She was a real sweetie, and sudjested I had got $18 worth in the first place.
I see that The Local District Council CEO is under pressure for hacking into and deleting councilors emails to each other. Mr Clapperton. says it is to protect staff from abuse.???
We had this going on in Horizons whilst I was there. Got abit cunning and headed it up some thing irrelevant . My point is that it is a gross abuse of a person/s privacy. it is the ultimate intrusion on our right to express our selves to one and other, and is goings on that are best left to the communist states where ever they may be.
Had my neighbor up the road say what a nice guy the CEO is and that the Mayor had to go. You Mike with your experience would be just the man?. Well I said to him the first thing I would do (If ) would be to sack the Barstard.(CEO).His son is a staff member in the District Council. Yes you guessed it. I will not be asked to be the Mayor.
The local paper reported late August, that the Manawatu River Leaders forum has secured $3 million in central govt funding under the Fresh Waters Improvement Fund. It equates to 40% of the funding needed over the next 5 years to help improve the river. Horizons will be the lead agency. Projects to be completed over the next 5yrs include Tokomaru’s waste water treatment plant which will now discharge to land. I suspect this will soak up a large proportion of the grant. And more on this later. Funding for will include fish passes, and $500,000 for community grants. Are the fish passes to let native species past and prevent trout? If so I wonder what Fish and Game think about it?
There is a further $2.9 million allocated to the Whangahue River amongst other. Flood protection?
I am feeling pretty pleased with my self. There it is Horowhenua Chronical Wednesday August 23. Changes to the One Plan. Horizon’s Regional Council will look at partial Plan change if Farmers request, following the Environment Courts ruling. Council is advising that the consent process is hugely complex and likely unachievable. A significant number of businesses would no longer be viable. Only those that were present around the council table and in the public gallery know just how much abuse I took from One particular Councilor,chair of the Catchment Committee Murry Guy who had the backing of the Chair and some councilors especially in the second term. The times I was sent to foyer over the above for insisting that this would be the out come. The rest of the councilors sitting quite. I will say that the Environment Committee Chair behind the scenes had a lot of support for Cr Guy. Jill White.
As a Hearing Commissioner for the Bio-diversity provisions of the Plan which included Mrs. White, things were never quite right. We would agree on a point only to get back to the hearing next day and find it had been changed. I could never get to the bottom of it and no amount of protesting or letter writing to the chair Ms Allin would resolve it. There were no notes kept. Yes we had a council secretary writing up the discussion as we went. I now suspect that Mrs. White was responsible for the changes. Past Minister for the Environment under Labour . Out of parliament and straight into Regional Council. Ms Allin initially took a hard line with plan requirements but soon lost her voice.
Then there was the times I stated council was not compliant with National Policy Statement for Fresh Water. Oh my God. Only those present will know the abuse I took. And the lengths staff and others went to keep me from being proved right. Such as the tampering of tapes of council items. (voice). Which on one occasion I requested to prove my point only to find no such luck. But those responsible, forgot to omit council lawyer Mr Massen from the those present page. And that was the only item on the agenda he could have been present for. And I stated he was the one who said Council is not compliant.
You knew if the voice transcript was tampered with. it took weeks to get to you. If not you got a copy same day.
Lets read on.
After reading the paper article I and my right hand man John got together and used Google to search Council minutes. There it is ,Strategy and Policy Committee 09 August 2017. Report 17-143.
Implementation of Intensive Land use Rules under the One Plan. I will cut straight to the chase and start at para 7.10. and finish at 11.8
Likely need for council to consider a plan change to give effect to the NPS Fresh Water Management.!!!!!!!!!!!. Not going into that here today ,you google it and read.
To many businesses cannot meet yr one limits yet alone yr 20. Too many applicants could not even present a complete enough application for a resource consent. Talks of sec 105 and 107 RMA requirements. Will include limits on Phosphorous and Sediments. Economics and social effects are not matters which discretion is observed under current Plan rules. The plan has been operative since June 2013. The legal requirement is for intensive land use to obtain a consent to continue to operate remains under the RMA. ,an existing use right for 6 mths after a plan change where a rule requires a consent came into effect. That period has obviously expired. Thus all intensive land use in those target catchments are thus UNATHORISED!!!!!!. This is tempered by the reality that the time frames for catchment consenting have proven to be unachievable. Neither council nor the industry have the resources to prepare and process. Thus any regulatory action must be carefully considered.
The study by Dr Parminter shows Dairy meeting yr 1 targets, experiences up to a 61% drop in profitability. Arable with livestock -48% and Arable with potatoes -64%. (Think there is problem with the wet weather and potatoes Waite for both the Plan and wet weather. (The great Irish potatoe famine all over again.) and that is year ONE. Business”s would struggle to survive, those that did would have to operate with significantly less debt, would struggle to attract out side funding ,(Banks) restricting their ability to introduce systemic changes to meet the N target. Those able to and building barns would become very capital intensive.
In his decision Judge Thompson (para 185) made it clear that if council had any concerns about the plan it should propose a plan change. It is hard to avoid that conclusion.Here it is. Land Treatment Urban Waste water captured to. Foxton and Tokomaru plus any other. A perverse out come. There is a broad programme of plan review necessary to give effect to the NPSFWM and to address unforeseen consequences of the way the One Plan was drafted. . May have to re think the Plans approach to Nutrient Management !!!. It is necessary and is several yrs away and will not resolve the more immediate impasse we face with intensive land use consenting. ANY Plan change must be supported by a sec 32 consideration. This must include consideration of the status quo. This further work is being commissioned to better able to understand the effects on Horticulture and a wider social and macroeconomic scale. It will be at least 12 months before any plan change is operative. it will not be straight forward. The now major hurdle is how to deal with existing intensive land use for which no viable consenting pathway exists.
After reading this it now a lot more clearer why the Feds got rid of me off Council. It is now obvious that those within council that wanted me gone, wanted me gone because I had buggered the Plan with my and Johns work called the advisory Group Report. It has been spread far and wide. Because I was right about councils position with regard to the NPSFW, because I was right with my persistent anti One Plan position and the financial effects it would have on our regional economy. it is only just getting started. Wait for it to hit the HEL land. Highly Erodible Land. The regions hill country. And I and John recorded all the unlawful nonsense that the councils Advisory Group got up to within the Environment Court. It has even captured Judge Thompson in that he continued with the Hearing after Council Planner Clare Barton took it upon her self to change sides and stop defending the councils position. This is Justice Koe’s criticism of Thompsons handling of the hearing, although he stopped short of any further action.
It was Our advisory groups report that Horticulture NZ used in the High Court Appeal, N limits and Discharges. It was Koe’s response to that report that was very very important. Quote. It is not a matter that is before me in this court. How ever It is a matter for another court. it would appear to me that the Appellants and others have had their rights to Natural Justice denieghed.
That’s what screwed Horizons over big time. That’s why I got the boot. Not because Horizons staff and some councilors could not work with me. Not because I was not a team player. There was nobody on my team.
Where to from here. Labour is big on farmer bashing, and water quality. Are they really piling the pressure on Horizons Council not to implement a plan change. I think so. If Labour forms a Govt will they appoint commissioners to run Horizons? Good chance.
I see Simon Upton has been appointed the next Commissioner for the Environment. Takes over October the 9th. Member of the Cawthorn Institute, big on the environment, former Environment Minister in a previous National Govt, degrees in every thing but what is relevant for the position and is supposed to be hot on sediment. States that intensive farming and country’s reliance on natural resources and urban growth putting too much strain on the environment. That’s it guys, break out the condoms.
NZ First challenged the appointment, saying the role needs a authoritive respected voice not a retarded retread.
Reading this report it would seem some other influence is at work. The One Plan was all about Treaty Settlements, paving the way through the regulatory frame work for the return of huge tracts of land to Maori ownership. That is why Simon Power stepped down from Parliament in 2011. He as the Minister of Justice was over seeing the Treaty Claims .At that point or there about Horizons Regional Councils Sustainable Land Use Initiative Farm Plans were sitting bang on top of or right next door to private Iwi and Hapu claims on private land. I made the claim that this was the same right across the region . He said “Yes. You are right”. That he would think about it over the weekend . Following Tuesday he said I am out of here guys. AS he pushed me out the door he said . Mike you dig deep. I refer to this in my blogg March the 4th 2011.
The Iwi authority Chairs certainly in Ruapehu have this advisory group report, plus a lot of other good stuff including the above, as does at least one District Council, Taurarua, the Feds and Hort NZ. Including the Taurarua Economic Development Society., Plus others. Is there another force at work here or are the members of the Advisory Group, being Council CEO McCartney, Council Chair Gordon, and members Guy, White and Sheldon under the pump from the above stake holders and the threat of court action in the High Court for both, an appeal with regards to the Right to Natural Justice, and a criminal action for interfering in the democratic process. Thus denieghing the afore mentioned.. Do the Iwi chairs not want to see another injustice imposed upon land owners?. Who knows. But over time it is all becoming clearer and it is my view that there is still a lot of water to flow under the bridge.
Catch ya.