The question; will Raglan’s future be decided by councillor’s from Hamilton still has no clear answer as we approach the August 9th deadline for Waikato District Council to merge with at least one other council.
Despite the tight deadline our council has extended its own deadline for residents to make submissions to this Tuesday 14th July. Although Mayor Aksel Bech has attended 35 community meetings around the district and the council has heard from hundreds of people they’re still looking for even more feedback from the community.
A general theme emerging from the community meetings is that no one wants to hook up with Hamilton City Council and its large debt. Even without the debt issue there is still a nationwide mood that smaller councils don’t want to be dominated by big cities like Hamilton, Tauranga or Christchurch.
If Hamilton City Council is left out of their neighbour’s merger plans however the government is likely to force a merger anyway and our council is one of the most likely candidates.
Local bus advocate John Lawson has taken his latest bus campaign nationwide with an interview this morning on RNZ’s Nine to Noon show. John has been saying the Regional Council didn’t consult properly but is currently getting tenders which will lock crowded peak buses in for the next decade for Raglan.
Waikato Regional Council did do a consultation process but made their decision before receiving the full staff report about what passengers wanted. Because of this they weren’t aware that 60.4% of submitters wanted a better Raglan weekend service. By comparison the Te Aroha bus, with only 23.1% support, did get a bus extension.
They also weren’t told “visitors frequently ask about transport options at info centres but are disappointed by the lack of services”. John also says no account has been taken of visitor numbers.
With the council’s bus plans already out to tender it’s not known what can be done about the situation but with high predicted growth for Raglan and a ten year contract a group of locals are concerned that our route, which they say has the highest user rate of any bus service in the region, could become plagued with problems again.
The meeting is being held in the Town Hall Supper Room Sunday 19th at 4pm.
If the government’s council merger plans go ahead the situation is likely to become even more complicated as current preferences are for councils to break the Waikato region into three separate groupings with the bus service, which is centred on Hamilton, running across at least one boundary.