Dear Whakatane District Council,

Please provide a detailed list of unsealed roads under the control of the district council including the length of unsealed road, the number of dwellings on the unsealed road and the amount of roading rates received by council from residents and businesses on those unsealed roads for the years 2018, 2019 & 2020.

A priority list for seal extension, if reinstated has apparently been prepared in the past, please provide that list and supporting documentation.

The following two statements have appeared in various emails since I began communicating with council staff in regard Fermah Road;

"Prior to 2012 Council did have a programme in place to seal approximately 3km of unsealed roads per year, but due to increasing pressures to invest in urgent repairs and upgrades to other infrastructure, such as storm water, waste water and drinking water supplies, Council made a decision to stop funding seal extensions and to refocus these funds towards its higher priority areas. This decision was made as part of Council’s Long Term Plan process which involves extensive community wide consultation and input."

"Reinstating seal extensions as a roading activity was included as one of the ‘optional’ activities in the current 2018-28 Long Term Plan. However very few submissions were received to reinstate this activity compared to other optional activities and on this basis Council made the decision not to include it."

Please provide the original consultation document for the 2018-28 long term plan as it is not available on the WDC website, or if it is, I cannot locate it. I would also ask the specific question were the rate payers most affected by the decision to cease seal extensions specifically notified of the policy change in 2012, my conversations with many residents of unsealed roads in my capacity as a rural lifestyle real estate salesperson suggests that they were not, hence they did not know of the policy change and therefore had no incentive to communicate their opposition at the time or since.

I fully understand the pressure on council finances but having studied the consultation document for the last annual plan and made a submission I was less than impressed by what was seen to be the highest priorities and the response from the community as to plans to remove significant parking in the CBD recently suggest that council is not communicating as well with the community that it seeks to serve as it perhaps believes it is.

Yours Sincerely,

A Broxholme

Dear Roslyn Barlow,

I missed the letter included in your response of the 24th December and have only just read it. I am not going to pay for the information to be gathered but would like instead the list you had from 2009 which I have located on a resource consent, an image is enclosed but it is too small to read.

Your previous communications with me in regard Fermah road indicated that you changed your seal extension policy in 2012, please confirm that you ceased seal extensions in 2009 as indicated in your letter.

As an aside, I would have thought that the number of dwellings on unsealed roads and the amount you charge these residents in rates should be a key part of your decision making as to seal extensions and that this information would have been collated previously.

As I cannot attach a file to this response I will email the scanned spreadsheet I want to see independantly to council.

Yours sincerely,

A Broxholme