Last month the Tokerau Beach and Whatuwhiwhi Residents' and Ratepayers' Association was told that the Far North District Council would not approve the placing of CCTV cameras on legal roads, or their attachment to council-owned street light poles, on the Karikari Peninsula, because the council did not have a policy (in terms of privacy), while a structural engineer's report, to be paid for by the association, would be needed for each pole.
That all changed on Tuesday, when members of the association, and its CCTV project sub-committee, met with Mayor John Carter.
Mr Carter told the delegation that he did not believe the the council needed a policy, and he was confident that he could "get this through council", it was just a matter of when.
Before the day was out chief executive Shaun Clarke went further, saying the issue did not need to go to the council, and that the project could proceed, once the legalities of the Privacy Act had been met. He did not expect that to delay progress.
Project manager Evan Mackay said yesterday that he was still pinching himself.