Press Release 27.10.11 Is Horizons losing its nerve?

Press Release 27.10.11
Has Horizons lost its nerve?
This Press Release follows an address on the environment by Dr Peter Cleave, candidate for Mana in Rangitikei to a meeting of constituents in Bunnythorpe, Rangitikei Electorate 21.10.11
At that meeting Dr Cleave suggested there is now an unholy mix of national and local politics happening in the Manawatu.
This has involved Iain Lees- Galloway, the local MP for Labour supporting the Palmerston North City Council as it appeals against a possible fine of $600,000 for polluting the Manawatu River. At the same time disaffected employees of Horizons continue to defect. The latest of these was Alisdair Beveridge following Greg Carlyon.
In the last few days Beveridge has been asked to appear before his former employers of sixteen years , Horizons, and elected to give a written statement. Emma Goodwin in the Manawatu Standard of October 27th talks of Beveridge accusing the Horizons of losing its nerve. In his written statement Beveridge asked Horizons not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Is this helping the Manawatu River? It is one example among many in this area of an apparently never ending set of squabbles between councils, within councils and one that has people leaving councils to stand for parliament and parliamentarians wading into municipal debates.
The heading for a critical editorial in the Manawatu Evening Standard of October 5th said it all; ‘Horizons needs to claw back credibility.’ Consider the following;
• Horizons Council, issued an abatement notice to the Palmerston North City Council on October the 7th. Iain Lees Galloway, Labour MP for Palmerston North is calling this a ‘’grenade’ (Janine Rankin, Manawatu Evening Standard October 21st).
• The abatement notice requires PNCC to stop the discharge from the Totara Road wastewater management plant from causing significant adverse effects on aquatic life downstream by the end of November.
• There are threats all the way up the line with Dr Nick Smith the Minister for the Environment saying that Horizons might face the same fate as Environment Canterbury.
• This is a mess. Lees Galloway is trying to stop the mess splashing into Palmerston North. And unfortunately this mess has happened in and around the Manawatu River one of the most heavily polluted rivers in the world.
• It has to be asked whether Iain Lees Galloway is being disingenuous. If there was not an election on right now would he be making the same noises?
• And it also needs to be asked again whether this is an example of responsible behaviour. The Manawatu River is being polluted by the Palmerston North City Council through its plant at Totara Road. To pretend otherwise or to support the bad behaviour of the council in any way would be irresponsible. Instead of actually doing something about the pollution councils are in court, parliamentarians are taking sides in this council strife, one council has longstanding employees accusing it of losing its nerve and the mess just gets worse and worse.
• Support for a polluter is misplaced and Lees Galloway is providing this for the Palmerston North City Council.
• And what, exactly, is going on at Horizons? As well as accusing Horizons of a loss of nerve Beveridge says in the Manawatu Standard of October 21st of Horizons council members,’ Some have their own agendas that are no possibly not in the best interests of the organisation and some of them are trying to confuse the issues.’
• Is any of this helping the environment here? Do we need to look at the way other rivers and their adjacent environments are managed and learn from those examples? Should we look at the Waikato River and compare its management to that of the Manawatu?
• Leadership issues are arising across the board here and unfortunately the environment in the Manawatu and elsewhere is suffering. It is tragic that this is happening with the Manawatu River, a river that deserves respect and support right now.
• Would the Auditor General approve of this messy situation?
At the end of the Bunnythorpe speech Dr Cleave suggested the clean-up of the Manawatu environment might best start with the politicians. Municipal leaders and administrators might closely follow.