1 July 2019

South Wairarapa District Council will start a new round of community engagement on the Featherston Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrade proposal. Over the coming weeks Council will carry out a number of community information drop-in sessions for Featherston residents.

“We acknowledge that we did not engage with the Featherston community and mana whenua to the extent we should have, before submitting the proposal for resource consent,” said Chief Executive Harry Wilson

“As a new Chief Executive I have an open mind and would like to better understand the many perspectives of what is being proposed so I’ve asked the project team to engage more widely with the community. I will also be taking the opportunity to meet with mana whenua and some community groups.”

“I’ve read the public submissions and was pleased to see general consensus that moving the discharge of wastewater from waterways to land is the right thing to do. I also appreciate that the community would like to better understand how we are proposing to do that,” said Mr Wilson.

Council is proposing to progressively move to discharging the town’s wastewater to land rather than to waterways, with the majority of the improvements occurring within the first five years after consent is granted.

“I’d like to reassure Featherston residents that we’ve taken their feedback onboard and would encourage them to get along to the community drop-in sessions. There will also be an opportunity to provide further feedback on the proposal,” said Mr Wilson.

More information about the community sessions is available at swdc.testserver.co.nz/featherston-wastewater-project or you can email FTNwater@swdc.govt.nz. The website has also been updated to include a video and FAQs.

ENDS

Media contact:

Amy Wharram

Communications Manager

027 252 2863