Susan O’Regan
Waipā mayor Susan O’Regan has rejected suggestions a blind eye is being turned to kiwifruit orchardists who have ignored district bylaws.
An editorial in last week’s edition of The News suggested the council appeared content to deal with retrospective applications and it was time for the mayor and council to make a stand over the issue.
One neighbour of a new orchard says a hearing later this month could leave him surrounded on three sides by kiwifruit under 10 metre high covers if the decision goes against him.
Today O’Regan, in a column, says in the last year council staff have responded to multiple concerns from immediate neighbours of two kiwifruit growers and have made more than 20 site visits and insisted on changes.
She says councillors “absolutely do” expect staff to respond to legitimate concerns as soon as staff are aware of them.
But she adds that “it’s hard to have sympathy for those who have not done the ground work or worse, have chosen to be ignorant or ill-informed”.
