Letters: Good and bad council decisions are down to voters

Voters don't control the decisions made by councils but they do decide who makes them, says a reader. File photo

Recent letters have announced the upcoming Local Authority elections, with Councillors placing before us their justifications for re-election - the results of their decision making, which in my opinion are good and bad.

I am reminded of Winston Churchill's quote: "Democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms".

You and I do not get to vote on how our ratepayer's money is spent; we get to select from amongst us representatives (Councillors) to do that for us.

It is important for us to vote for our representatives wisely or put up with the consequences of our bad decision-making.

As I understand it, those of us whom we vote in to represent us are mandated by our Local Government Act to "so far as is practicable" fulfil their role of governance and keep out of day-to-day "operational matters" unless they become concerned that the decision-making is bad then they can intervene.

In my books, this means that elected representatives can make good and bad governance decisions. To you and I, these decisions made on our behalf can be glaringly obvious as we live and work.

We get our opportunity to vote out those representatives whom we consider are making bad decisions and vote in representatives whom we consider are making good decisions on our behalf.

It is literally up to us to sort out whom we are going to vote for or put up with what we end up with.

Joseph Gielen
Glenholme

Questions answered

I confess to being astonished at the response of Peter Breen (Letters, April 20) to a letter regarding our lakefront development that I had previously written. He demanded of me an answer to two questions, which I will do.

Question 1: "Just because "it's a robust business case" does not make it the choice of the people, just maybe the choice of the consultants and the councillors who are pushing the same cause."

My answer: This is a statement, not a question.

Question 2: "Was this really advertised in the Long-Term Plan or just buried along with a myriad of other things?"

My answer: It was very clearly "advertised" in the Long-Term Plan discussion document that was delivered to his letterbox, and was explained even further on pages 43 and 44 of an expanded plan document that was available free to him from the council offices and our library, should he have chosen to look.

He even asks who may want the Lakefront the most; the elected council members or the general public. The answer is in the submissions to the LTP consultations where the general public said yes.

John Pakes
Ngongotahā

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