Councillors hear views on Wanganui United Council

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 2, Issue 5, 3 July 1984, Page 14

Councillors hear views on Wanganui United Council

At last week's meeting of (he Raetihi Borough Council, Mr Bill Taylor, Mayor of Ohakune, attended to present his views as the local representative on the Wanganui United Council and to answer questions from councillors about the role of the United Council. Mr Taylor pointed out that he had been a United Council representative for only six months and was aware that both his predecessors, Bob Peck and John Gould, were staunch advocates of the United Council. "But that was when Ron Russell of Wanganui was chairman ... now that John Forrest of Rangitikei had taken over, the WUC was experiencing some difficulty in resolving rural and urban interests," he said. "John Forrest is no strong advocate of the United Council concept in anything other than Civil Defence and the lines seem to be drawing between urban and rural areas. John Forrest felt it was time the Wanganui United Council backed away, from regional development and planning . Bill Taylor went on to explain that the Wanganui United Council was largely ineffective as a regional planning authority ... its

boundaries do not coincide with the Wanganui Hospital Board nor do they match up" with the Wanganui Education Board. Nor are the boundaries the same as the Wanganui Police District and they are not the same as the No. 8 (Wanganui) District Roads Board. Mayor Garrick Workman said that the main advantage of belonging to the Wanganui United Council seems to have been the setting up of a regional Civil Defence Plan which is now in place. But he also instanced a couple of other sucpesses during former Mayor Bob Peck's stewardship ... the refurbishing of the Ohakune Courthouse and the retention of the Silver Fern railcar service stop at Ohakune. Bill Taylor agreed that having the weight of the Wanganui United Council behind local decisions has helped and pointed out that the WUC serves as an additional 'soap-box' to speak from. But he admitted there was very little common interest between the various districts of the Wanganui United Council region ... "here in the Waimarino we ought to be planning and developing for tourism, forestry and market gardening."