Regional Council Notes

Wairarapa was unsuccessful in attracting investment in the first round of Regional Development funding put up by the government.  Whilst deeply disappointing it was not unexpected when one looks at the myriad of projects from all over the country that were put up for consideration.  There’s no doubt that the Fund was designed to be an election carrot and the first round of grants has been described as nothing more than a lolly scramble.

Sore losers don’t generally get any sympathy however so there’s no point in complaining.  We need to regroup and work out what we need to do to get over the line.

Regrouping requires our three councils to work together on this; something they have agreed to do, with Greater Wellington Regional Council providing some overarching support, to identify and prioritise projects that might tick the right boxes.

The trouble is that we are not regarded as needy enough when compared to other provincial parts of New Zealand.  The ‘world view’ of Wairarapa sees vineyards, gourmet food and events.  It sees black BMWs and award winning pinot noir. We are renown  for Toast Martinborough, the Martinborough Fair and Pukaha Mt Bruce.  Our own success is actually our downfall.

What the world doesn’t see are our many locals who work hard to make ends meet on the minimum wage or struggle to find a job at all.  They don’t see the challenges facing our life blood rural industry as likely climate change impacts, particularly on current water supplies, become all the more clearer.

One hopes that they have seen that our train infrastructure desperately needs investment as the district has been making plenty of noise about this but sadly this didn’t even make it to first base.

So what do we have to do to get noticed?  A good start would be for the three MPs, who have Wairarapa on their radars, to work together on this one. Ron Mark who is best placed as a Cabinet Minister has never been afraid to rattle cages to get air time so let’s hope he can find us some really big ones that make plenty of noise.

Adrienne Staples