Council Decides to "Pause" Climate Adaptation Work.... and risk a Judicial Review

This is not good news, I'm afraid. 

Today I presented the petition to Council and delivered a speech explaining how important it is that they kept the programme running.  Council officers explained how important it was to keep running.  Council's legal counsel advised that cancelling or "pausing" (which would likely be seen as cancelling by a judge) would have a high risk of a judicial review that could cost Council at least as much as the savings they are hoping to gain from stopping the work.

The Mayor scoffed at the "state of the education system" when a letter was read out from a student in Ruawai, explaining her point of view on continuing the programme.

Sadly, Council decided to opt to "pause" the programme (which given their previous clearly stated intention to cancel it, effectively means cancelling). They also opted to consult about continuing the programme in the Long Term Plan process set down for sometime next year (the June 30 deadline is likely to change given the new government's intention to repeal the three waters legislation ).

So, for now, we are done. I'll certainly be interested in submitting to the LTP about the importance of climate change adaptation.

In the meantime, if you would like to email the Mayor and councillors, you can find their details here:

https://www.kaipara.govt.nz/council/mayor-and-councillors-5

For the record, Councillors Wilson-Collins, Vincent, Paniora and Nayyar voted to continue, so they deserve congratulations.  The others voted to "pause"/cancel the programme.

You can watch the debate here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si4_RS9WPPU

Finally, thank you so much for signing this petition.  We ended up with over 800 signatures, mostly from the Northland/Auckland areas.  Your voice matters even if the decision didn't go our way this time.

Nga mihi nui

Anna