Kia ora tatou!
 
There was a good turnout (110) at Thursday night's Public Meeting at Pinehaven School Hall regarding Council's proposed but unwanted Land Swap and their flawed Pinehaven flood model. 
 
The outcome of the meeting was that an Action Group will be formed (several people already volunteered themselves last night), with a unanimous mandate from the meeting to represent our community and to work out and implement an action strategy for achieving the following:
 
1.    to stop the Council & Guildford Timber Company's proposed Land Swap, a land swap which would see the public lose the Silverstream Spur (a public reserve) and open up the way for large-scale urban development on the Spur and Pinehaven hills;
2.    to get Council's flawed Pinehaven Stream baseline flood model fixed - if it is not fixed then any development on Guildford land on the Pinehaven hills will cause bigger, more frequent and widespread flooding in Pinehaven; and
3.    to get Pinehaven officially recognised and protected as a 'Special Character Area".
 
The Action Group will hold its first meeting next week. The Action Group will keep our community informed and involved. We are anticipating that Council's Land Swap public consultation will be coming up very soon, so the Action Group will keep you posted about Council's Policy Committee meeting next week (Wednesday 17th February), and the Ordinary Council Meeting two weeks after that (Wednesday 3rd March).
 
Thanks to all who were able to attend last night's public meeting in Pinehaven, and also to all who have supported the petition so far for flood protection for Pinehaven - over 150 supporters already after launching the petition just 4 days ago. Tell family, neighbours and friends about the petition. We'' keep you posted with regular updates.

The team at SOH