Dr Rachel Keedwell is the chairwoman of Horizons Regional Council. The views expressed here are her own.
OPINION
Is putting in a submission to a council Long-Term Plan (LTP) worth the effort? From my perspective as a councillor who recently listened to or read more than 500 submissions to our LTP, the answer is a resounding yes. We received a huge range of submissions and I feel most of them were thoughtfully written and provided constructive feedback.
A valuable aspect of hearing from submitters is that people can highlight issues and impacts of our proposed plans that we may not have been aware of. By making us aware of unintended consequences, we can make changes to the plan to address concerns.
Real-life experiences from submitters can provide a perspective on the services we provide that councillors may not be familiar with. For example, we heard from several submitters who described what it is like to live in a car-centric transport network when you can’t or don’t drive, and how public transport options can be incredibly limited if you are in that situation. We heard how our proposed changes to some of the rating systems had unintended consequences for properties with high capital values, or for rural properties with drainage schemes that were ending up with water from upstream urban developments.