A ratepayers' association is being set up in Mahia amid frustration with the attention paid by Wairoa District Council to local issues.
Retiree David Clifton says Wairoa District Council seems to think Mahia ratepayers are wealthy so can pay for projects, such as a new wastewater scheme in Wairoa. Photo: RNZ / Aaron van Delden
The area's population swells by thousands over summer as holidaymakers and bach owners descend on its beaches.
That has led to moves by the council to improve waste management facilities and introduce freedom camping wardens on the peninsula, which is home to a Rocket Lab launch site.
But of more concern to the ratepayers' association will initially be roading and wastewater, says the man leading efforts to set up the group.
David Clifton retired to Mahia two-and-a-half years ago after 45 years in the real estate industry in Auckland and Australia.
"I have observed over the last couple of years some disquiet about Wairoa District Council, mainly that Mahia ratepayers' interests aren't well represented at the council," Mr Clifton said.
One example was roads that had been washed out and unrepaired for months - at Black's Beach, reducing the peninsula's main access road to a single lane, and on Mahia East Coast Road, where a Bailey bridge was installed earlier this year.
Another concern was that Mahia ratepayers would have to help fund a new wastewater scheme in Wairoa, despite having to pay several thousand dollars to put in septic tanks for their own new scheme a few years ago.
"There's a general feeling the council thinks Mahia ratepayers have plenty of dough so can foot the bill," Mr Clifton said.
He is in the process of formally establishing the association - as an incorporated society - after sending out notices to Mahia property owners and receiving "nothing but support" for the idea.
About six people have indicated they are willing to have a role in the association, which Mr Clifton hopes to have up and running - and lobbying for Mahia concerns - early next year.
He anticipates association members will have a presence at council meetings.
Craig Little Photo: RNZ / Kate Gudsell
Wairoa Mayor Craig Little said he welcomed the ratepayers' association but hoped it would be transparent and solutions-orientated.
Mahia got as much council attention as any of the district's communities, Mr Little said.
It was a difficult job trying to balance the needs of all Wairoa residents and the council endeavoured to do its best, he said.
Mahia identity Bill Shortt, a former Wairoa district councillor, believes the peninsula's ratepayers are short-changed by the council and is backing the association.
Locals had no town supply, a "Clayton's wastewater scheme", minimal roading and a 100km round trip to the library in Wairoa, Mr Shortt said.
As the setting for several new housing developments, the Mahia area is expected to continue leading household growth in the Wairoa district for the next few decades. More than half of the area's 1062 houses were unoccupied during the Census in March 2018.
Its usual population is about 1160 people.
Local Democracy Reporting is a public interest news service supported by RNZ, the Newspaper Publishers' Association and NZ on Air.
