Hamilton residents ask council for more transparency

The proposed Waikato Regional Theatre. Photo / Jasmax

Hamilton city councillor Angela O'Leary has called on the city council and supporting groups to be more transparent with public consultation about to start on Hamilton's 10-year plan.

Ms O'Leary was guest speaker on Saturday at a meeting of the Hamilton Residents and Ratepayers Association, although she stressed she was there in a personal capacity as a councillor and not representing the council.

Association members raised concerns over several aspects of the 10-year plan including a proposed new Waikato Regional Theatre, which the council is planning to put at least $25 million towards.

The theatre would be on the site of the old Hamilton Hotel in Victoria Street and some members were concerned about the lack of space in the area.

"Why will we have a theatre up there in a narrow street where a truck will not be able to fit," an audience member said.

Ms O'Leary, who supports the theatre proposal, said that Momentum Waikato is "running the show" in communication and said they need to work better with the public.

"This will fail if you can't take the public with you, and to do that you need to be transparent and take the public with you on that journey," Ms O'Leary said.

She referenced a recent exercise that Momentum Waikato did with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra where she said they took their trucks onto a field and placed cones to represent the tight and narrow corners of Victoria Street to see if the truck would fit — which it did.

"I said why don't you tell the public that. What a great video that could be to show that it can happen," Ms O'Leary said.

The members also raised concerns that the council will not listen to the public, even with public consultation, and referenced the 80 per cent of people they said were against the CBD free parking scheme as an example of that.