Grey Power to foot bill

Cost is no longer a valid argument against a proposed referendum to decide whether the Omana Reserve road in Maraetai should be closed.

Pohutukawa Coast Grey Power has decided to foot the $10,000 bill.

But Manukau City councillors must first agree at next week's full council meeting to hold a referendum.

It is the latest chapter in a debate that has polarised the coastal community for half a decade.

In 2009 the Clevedon Community Board controversially chose to close the road as part of the Beachlands-Maraetai coastal walkway development.

And last month a desperate plea from three influential Maraetai residents for councillors to intervene failed.

Now Grey Power wants to settle the matter once and for all.

President Bill Bateman says the February meeting was a "disgrace".

"Our committee said, more or less, bollocks," he says.

"They decided that I would ask the mayor's permission to have a referendum if we can raise the money for it." Mayor Len Brown, however, was not having it. We're not doing any more debates on this," he says.

"They got a special hearing at the last full meeting. We made decisions there and certainly on the issue of referendums we had two specific votes and they were voted down by a significant majority on council."

Mr Brown says they supported the community board's decision and the only referendum this year will be the general election in October.

Yet council standing orders say that if the notice of motion is received more than seven days before the meeting the mayor cannot direct the chief executive to refuse it. Notices of motion are the key method by which councillors get issues on an agenda.

In this case Howick councillor Jami-Lee Ross will move it. He says the council said no last time partly due to cost. "Now the opponents are saying: `If you're not prepared to pay for it with ratepayers' money then we, as the people interested in this issue, are willing to pay for it ourselves'. I think it's the democratic way of seeing whether the community is actually in favour of closing the road or not."

The community board argued that most are in favour of closing the road, yet Grey Power and the Pohutukawa Coast Community Association say otherwise, Mr Ross says. "Having a referendum will sort it out once and for all.

"I can't see any reason why the council should or would say no, given that there would be no cost to the ratepayer."

- © Fairfax NZ News