I believe local government works best when it’s practical, transparent, and genuinely connected to the people it serves. As someone who lives, works, and raises a family in this district, I’m passionate about protecting what makes Waitaki special, from our rural success to our strong community values. I’m putting my name forward because I care about the future of our roads, our infrastructure, and the way we grow. 

There are three main areas where I will initially focus my energy to look after our intergenerational assets, starting with the big rule book known as the District Plan. The government has stopped councils progressing the district plans which has prevented some good new policies, but most importantly this pause has prevented some very restrictive and costly rules being imposed on rate payers. A new plan will made under new legislation and I will be looking carefully at how it is formed with more input from locals at an earlier stage, perhaps similar to ECan's successful collaborative planning model. [Ed, video was included in Sven's response and can be watched below.]

Secondly, the airport has been a huge success. When I first flew solo in 2004 the aero club was a part-time operation and was the only business on the field. Now, with the addition of just two tenants the airport is twice as busy as Dunedin, Queenstown and Nelson airports. This success comes with higher regulatory requirements at the same time as the runways are struggling under the volume of movements. The rate payer should not bear this cost and external funding may be available.

Finally, the aquatic centre had controversial origins with the loss of green space but more people use that space now as a pool than when it was grass. Children learn critical water safety skills and the elderly enjoy low-impact movement. The pool is one of our greatest assets but the structure is a few years from the end of the design life and no money has been put aside to renovate or replace this building. We cannot rely on charity to maintain our assets. This will be a priority which I will pursue.

These are the key issues that have motivated me, but as councillor I will also proactively review all policies, by-laws and strategies which guide the direction of the executive team with a view to long term cost control while also responding to the inevitable central government direction.