Re: Last week's headline ‘City to buy flood-hit homes'.

That should read: ‘Ratepayers to fund, yet again, planning staff's short-sighted incompetence in designing land and development planning documents'.

They have, over time, led to disastrous consequences for the city's infrastructure, which ultimately leads to huge rate rises in an effort to rectify past mistakes.

Very easy for Tauranga City councillor Steve Morris to blame previous councils rather than put the blame where it should be, and that is squarely on the doorstep of city planners.
A city built on ridges rising out of swampy water courses between the Kaimai Ranges and the Pacific shoreline signals to people with common sense that you don't allow development or manipulation of land in low-lying areas.

Tauranga planners have allowed houses with roofs, driveways and hardstands that hugely compound the stormwater run-off problem to be built in inappropriate areas.

Multi millions of ratepayer dollars have been spent in the last 30 years keeping a bloated level of planning staff, planning one would think, for the stormwater crisis the city ratepayer now faces.

Who is culpable? And who should be held responsible?

Maureen J Anderson, Pyes Pa.