Opinion: Councillor not afraid to take a stand

Rotorua Lakes Councillor Charles Sturt puts his money where his mouth is. Photo/file

There's nothing that gets us wound up more than rubbish.

Whether it be household rubbish purposely dumped on the outskirts of the city or junk tossed out the car window, chances are it's going to raise the ire of most decent folk.

Recently we ran yet another story about rubbish being dumped on Mt Ngongotaha off Mountain Rd.

It's a piece of road that posseses one of the most beautiful views overlooking the city, yet it's secluded enough to hide the lazy buggers who sneak up there and biff their rubbish down the bank.

Just days later, we ran another story about a Ngakuru farmer spotting a dead dog dumped among household rubbish on Puaiti Rd, south of Rotorua.

He posted the photos on several Facebook sites to find who owned the dog, sparking massive outrage from the community.

There were the usual calls from locals to reduce the landfill charges as well as fine those who are involved in illegal dumping - all of which were strongly worded, but at the end of the day went nowhere.

Then Rotorua Lakes Councillor Charles Sturt gets involved.

He's so upset about the dumped rubbish, he offers to pay $500 out of his own pocket leading to information about those who dump rubbish illegally.

He takes to Facebook to try and get support to have an annual inorganic footpath rubbish collection system.

He suggests a small fee could be added to rates to pay for the collection once a year and he estimates it would solve about 80 per cent of the illegal dumping problems around the city.

He said he had raised the idea before but didn't have the support from around the council table.

I don't think Mr Sturt's idea, although valid, will eventuate. For starters mayor Steve Chadwick isn't keen, saying such collections dumped on footpaths were unsightly.

But how refreshing is Mr Sturt's enthusiasm. It's not election year. He's coming up with ideas and gauging community feedback.

The public is notorious for poking stick at councillors for "doing nothing".

Mr Sturt can rightfully say "that's rubbish".