Gore mayor Ben Bell 'frustrated' at slow bridge consultation

Wednesday, 8 March 2023

Gore mayor Ben Bell says he’s ‘frustrated’ at how long consultation over the council’s plans to build a bridge will take. (File photo)

Gore district mayor Ben Bell wanted the council to decide whether it would build a bridge over the Mataura River at the council’s meeting this month.

Instead, it will decide how it will consult with the community on the issue.

The council is again considering whether to build a pedestrian and cycle bridge across the river to carry water pipes from the Jacobstown well field on the west side of the river to its East Gore treatment plant so it can supply all the town with water that meets New Zealand drinking water standards.

The other option it is considering is whether to drill and bury the pipes under the river bed.

* Build it or drill it? Gore's councillors are divided on how to get water pipes across the Mataura River

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The Gore District Council is deciding whether to build another bridge across the Mataura River.The State Highway 1 bridge is at the top of the picture. In the foreground is the railway bridge. (File photo)

At February’s council meeting, Bell said the issue, which was first mooted early in 2020 had gone on for long enough, and he wanted the council to make a decision at the next meeting in March.

At an assets and infrastructure committee meeting on Tuesday, council 3 Waters asset manager Matt Bayliss said the council had been working through a plan on how it would engage with the community on the issue and that would be presented at the meeting on March 21.

The agenda says community engagement will be completed by mid-May, and a report summarising the findings would be presented to council in mid-June.

Speaking on Wednesday, Bell said the slow pace was ‘’frustrating.’’

“Absolutely, I want to make a decision on this and get on with it, but it’s not my decision to make. I don’t want to jump the gun, it has to be up to the community, because that didn’t happen before,’’ he said.

“But as one of our managers said, we have done this wrong [consultation with the public] before, and we don’t want to do it wrong again.’’

He said elected members had ‘’put their foot down’’ about the time it was taking to prepare for another round of consultation and the times had been ‘’moved up a bit.’’

Council general manager communications and customer support Sonia Gerken said the information in the report was now outdated and since the meeting council staff had developed a new timeline and fleshed out engagement plans.

“We will be putting out a press release early next week, once everything is finalised,’’ she said.

Bell said he had attended meetings with staff members about the consultation plan, which would involve drop-in sessions and residents being able to express their views to elected members.

The council was criticised by residents and iwi over its lack of consultation before it applied for resource consent to build a cable-stay design bridge in August 2020.