Brian Anderson The Western Front www.sunlive.co.nz

There is a hole somewhere in the council structure, a black hole which seems to accept ideas, innovation, dreams, consultation, reports, planning submissions, our rates and heaps of money.

Council business continues as usual and seems unchanged by this vast input. It is not a just lack of communication; it feels like the council and the public are communicating. It's just that we seem to be in two different one-sided conversations. Where in the council's world does this great disconnect occur?

Looking at council's development planning. The Smart Growth review is under way and could come up with some new ideas but all we have to show at the moment is CDPs for Te Puke, Omokoroa and Waihi Beach. Omokoroa we had better keep quiet about. Waihi Beach we are now told is to be part of Katikati, so its CDP is totally out of date. Katikati doesn't have a plan at all. It does have a Town Plan that appears to be totally unworkable.

This week, the Regional Council has released over $30m dollars for Tauranga and Western Bay's long term projects. Tauranga's list includes the university, which Western Bay also agreed to support but kept the rest of their money for just one project, the Katikati Town Centre Plan that nobody wants. This decision never went to the councillors to discuss. They are yet to be told exactly what they will be expected to vote for. It is a little like the representation fiasco. The mayor told the council and the public what the council decision would be even before it went to public submission and councillors were able to debate the issues. Maybe it was what Cr Mayo calls ‘the council A team' in action or it was management running the ship.

The recently published Western Bay Notices features 46 more sticking plaster variations on the council's District Plan and explains that everybody, including the council must comply with this plan. The current plan took over two years of submissions but these variations suggest that it is still inadequate.

I highlight just a few below. Heritage sites have caused problems for years. You would think a simple procedure would have been developed by now. Rural entranceways? I have supported a rural ratepayer for two years over council mishandling of his legal entrance being misused by others. The floodable areas update has incredible implications for houses on flood prone land and council still doesn't have any rules for building houses in these areas. The aquaculture development in Katikati had to go to court at great expense. The council couldn't tell the difference between a fish farm and a chicken farm. Is it just the Omokoroa walkway, or is it the whole Omokoroa development that is slip sliding away. Lifestyle development, transferable development rights and additional dwellings? How on earth did they leave these out of the District Plan? I like the topic ‘Natural Hazards – where hazard does not exist.' Could this mean that we will be charged consents for a natural hazard that does not exist? All of the 46 problems should have been covered in council policy and detailed in published council procedures. It seems their plan is cloud cuckoo land and all attempts to fit it into real life without suitable documentation are creating more work for the submissions process.

Council decisions appear to be knee jerks with decisions made well away from and council chamber. This is why a solid set of procedures is not available that people can understand. With no openness and true public consultation, council is left with submission processes ad nauseam to cover up the irrelevance of much of their planning. As with the recent representation submissions, I expect that very few will be able to prepare documentation on the 46 plan variations. Our only hope is that council appears to be hell bent on planning themselves into the same black hole.