CCC Long Term Plan

A reminder that the Tuesday Club will be making submissions on the Long-Term Plan. For those who would like to assist with this presentation then please get in touch.

I received this from Andrew Turner answering some queries which had been forwarded to him after he had spoken to the Tuesday Club:

I am pleased to provide information regarding community funding in the draft Long-Term Plan. This information has been provided by relevant Council staff.

• There is a proposed 5% cut to strengthening communities funding in the draft Long-Term Plan. Last year there was a one-off extra payment made to each Community Board to cover COVID-19 issues. This was a one-off and is not proposed to be made this year. The proposed 5% reduction will be from the 19/20 baseline figure. The total 10 year spend for community grants funding and community loans is proposed to be $109,558,822.
• Higher cuts to our community and grants programmes from the 5% reduction taken in our proposed budget were considered. Our largest community grant programme is the Strengthening Communities fund. However, larger cuts would have a disproportionately negative impact on the volunteer and not for profit sectors, particularly given the impacts of COVID-19.
• The role of other funds, such as the Capital Endowment Fund, can be considered. This consideration has not yet occurred and is not included in the document as it is not funded by rates.

This is a matter on which submitters may wish to comment.

This week Sam McDonald made a foolish comment at a Council meeting which was reported in the Press. When he spoke in favour of CCC making a submission to Ecan about the level of their rates his argument was reported as:

“I don’t think it’s unreasonable to put something like this to them. They can reject it. We don’t listen to every submission that comes through, we probably don’t listen to most of them.”

At best this was a foolish comment, from a man who has a potentially great future in politics. Sam is a smart young man who has performed well at CCC. If this is how he really thinks about public participation then he is badly out of sync with a younger generation who are demanding greater transparency from politicians, and the political process. This sort of thinking should have died with older politicians.

It was my experience in politics that thoughtful people who had time to give consideration to, and to devote their intellect to, the big topics, that their submissions were of great assistance to me as a public servant at the Council table. To say “we probably don’t listen to most of them” is demeaning to presenters (who pay his salary as an elected rep) and to the process.

I hope Sam learns from this unfortunate brain fade.

Here is the link to the CCC Long Term Plan process:

• The CCC LTP is open for submissions.   This is the link to Draft LTP 2021 information page Long Term Plan 2021–31 : Christchurch City Council (ccc.govt.nz)
• Closing date for submission is Sunday 18 April 2021. This is the link to the online submission form.
• Te Mahere Rautaki Kaurera – Our Draft Long Term Plan 2021-31 : Christchurch City Council (ccc.govt.nz)
• Public hearings will be held in May 2021. When filling in the online submission form, the submitter can opt to speak at the hearings (see snapshot below). You will then be contacted by Council staff to speak at an allotted time.

If you don’t use the online submission form, then please indicate in your written submission that you would like to speak at the hearings. You will then be contacted by Council staff to speak at an allotted time.