Submissions pour in on Te Arawa proposal

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More than 450 submissions have been received by the Rotorua Lakes Council regarding its controversial Te Arawa Partnership Proposal.

As of yesterday the council's Strategy and Partnerships group manager Jean-Paul Gaston said a total of 467 submissions had been sent to the council.

He said a complete analysis of the submissions had not yet been done, but of the 420 submissions registered, exactly 50 per cent of submitters had answered "yes" to the first question, "Do you support in principle the intention to effectively partner with Te Arawa", with 50 per cent saying "no".

The submission period ends on April 17 with hearings for those who want to be heard in person to support their submission being heard on April 22 and 23.

The council will then deliberate on those submissions on May 6 before making its final decision.

The proposal could see the establishment of an iwi board outside the council structure to replace the former Te Arawa Standing Committee.

Te Arawa would appoint or elect a board of up to 14 people with two representatives - with voting rights - to sit on the council's operations and monitoring committee and on its strategy, policy and finance committee, with one on the chief executive performance committee and another representative on Resource Management Act hearings panels.

To make a submission, visit www.rotorualakescouncil.nz, or pick up a form from the City Focus, Rotorua District Library or the council's Customer Centre in Haupapa St.