Tuesday 26 June, 2012

Council adopts Long-term Plan

After considering 223 submissions and hearing from 63 submitters, Horizons Regional Council today adopted its final Plan for the next 10 years.

This Long-term Plan will guide the way the region manages its land, air and water resources from 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013 and has been described by Horizons chairman Bruce Gordon as “a well-balanced approach to our region’s future”.

The most notable change in the final Plan is a move towards self insurance which will see Horizons withdraw from the Local Authority Protection Programme Disaster Fund (LAPP) in favour of an infrastructure insurance reserve rate.

This is due to the rising cost and reduced availability of insurance following the 2004 floods and the Canterbury earthquakes and will help Horizons remain resilient in an emergency event.

“The decision to introduce an infrastructure insurance reserve rate is financially prudent as we can no longer obtain external insurance at an affordable rate that meets our region’s needs,” Mr Gordon said.

Premiums previously paid to LAPP will be redirected into a reserve fund from 2013 along with $200,000 collected through the infrastructure insurance reserve rate in 2012. This rate will help to build a reserve of $6.56 million over the lifetime of the Plan.

Other changes in the final Plan include the extension of a contiguous rates remission to include forestry blocks and unsold subdivisions following strong support from submitters.

Council will move ahead with plans to trial a fortnightly bus service from Taihape that will alternate destinations between Wanganui and Palmerston North.

Horizons will also implement planned improvements to Palmerston North bus services. These include the introduction of late night services running until 11pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturdays.

Ends

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