Posted 24/07/13
Earlier this week, there was an article in the paper about the progress being made on repairing the flood damage around the district. There was a general tone that almost all of the issues were addressed with just a couple of roads still closed.
My thoughts on this are that the council has to do better - there is wide-spread dissatisfaction across the district that repairs have taken too long, h...ave been short-term fixes at best, and that many could have been avoided.
So how can we improve this situation? Well, for a start, the council needs to do more to minimise any damage caused by working harder on getting culverts cleared and keeping them better maintained. This will help excess water drain away and minimise flooding in a number of critical areas. Secondly, I'd like to see a better response plan in place. This would involve a greater ability for other contractors to be brought in so we have more people and equipment on the ground getting the work done. This doesn't need to cost a lot more as the same work gets done; it's just that twice as much resource is used to get it done in half the time.
This leads to the third issue of short-term fixes. Some of these are necessary just to get roads reopened but the frustration comes when road signs and cones are still there months afterwards.
I was doing a fair bit of driving in our rural areas over the weekend and I was surprised at the mess around district. I saw for myself why a number of the farming community have talked to me of their concerns. We have an extensive network of roads, 1800 km in total, which takes a lot of work, but we owe it to our ratepayers that we get the best value for their rates and that work is done effectively and efficiently, and to a standard that ensures safe and unobstructed access.
Earlier this week, there was an article in the paper about the progress being made on repairing the flood damage around the district. There was a general tone that almost all of the issues were addressed with just a couple of roads still closed.
My thoughts on this are that the council has to do better - there is wide-spread dissatisfaction across the district that repairs have taken too long, h...ave been short-term fixes at best, and that many could have been avoided.
So how can we improve this situation? Well, for a start, the council needs to do more to minimise any damage caused by working harder on getting culverts cleared and keeping them better maintained. This will help excess water drain away and minimise flooding in a number of critical areas. Secondly, I'd like to see a better response plan in place. This would involve a greater ability for other contractors to be brought in so we have more people and equipment on the ground getting the work done. This doesn't need to cost a lot more as the same work gets done; it's just that twice as much resource is used to get it done in half the time.
This leads to the third issue of short-term fixes. Some of these are necessary just to get roads reopened but the frustration comes when road signs and cones are still there months afterwards.
I was doing a fair bit of driving in our rural areas over the weekend and I was surprised at the mess around district. I saw for myself why a number of the farming community have talked to me of their concerns. We have an extensive network of roads, 1800 km in total, which takes a lot of work, but we owe it to our ratepayers that we get the best value for their rates and that work is done effectively and efficiently, and to a standard that ensures safe and unobstructed access.
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