14 June 2023
Media: Local Democracy Reporter
Topic: Begging
Enquiry
On Monday the reporter sent the following, seeking the information by Tuesday:
Saw this in the agenda for the upcoming meeting and wondered if I could please have some questions answered on it:
Begging - Current state analysis required. Early discussions held about potential Bylaw development.
What has prompted this?
Who is involved in discussions and what would a potential bylaw look like?
Has the council received any complaints from the public or business community about beggars, and what kinds of things have been an issue? How many on average of the last few months? How has this been trending?
Is there an estimated cost for investigating potential bylaw development?
Has there been any ban on begging in Rotorua before? Has one been investigated before?
The reporter came back to us today after the meeting asking for the information requested on Monday.
Response
Following her initial enquiry on Monday we informed the reporter we would not pre-empt any potential discussion prior to the meeting but invited her to come back to us afterwards if wanted.
Today we informed the reporter as follows:
There is nothing more to add at this stage than what was mentioned in today’s meeting. As you heard, it’s something that has been raised, assessment of the situation is needed, the solution may be a bylaw or something else and the issue will be considered as part of the community safety strategy which will be presented to elected members in due course.
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Media: Radio NZ
Topic: Fire safety in emergency housing
Enquiry
Further to 2 previous enquiries related to fire safety in emergency housing, reporter asked for the following information:
Can RLDC clarify a ballpark figure for how many emergency housing providers there are within the TA, that these issues might pertain to? I guess it is complicated because the voucher system means providers may be doing this without RLDC knowing, but on the other hand your compliance team may have some idea.
Also, I wish to firm up on the number of fires in emergency / transitional accomm – we have reported ‘there had been seven fires at emergency housing or temporary accommodation providers in recent years’ https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/491199/rotorua-mayor-tania-tapsell-calls-for-urgent-action-after-fatal-lodge-fire but i note that RLDC’s application to MBIE in Jan 2022 mentions TWO recent fires at EH motels. Were there five further fires after this application was lodged.
Finally, MBIE is statutorily obliged to process a determination in 60 working days. It appears your one has been held up or its time reset – why is it taking so long on this important safety matter?
Reporter subsequently sent the following after receiving information from RLC:
What RNZ is interested in – spurred by the Loafers Lodge questions around housing safety for vulnerable people - is reporting more on what fire protections
1.are in place at EH
2.required to be in place at EH.
From our inquiries so far, it appears regarding point 1, that there is only patchy knowledge of what is in place, and that when inspections have been done, eg of 4 Canoes or Berkenhoff (not in RLDC area) significant omissions (eg missing alarms) and breaches have been found. The mayor has said made this point herself
And re point 2, that there are no extra protections that can be required of motels functioning as longterm accomm, as the RLDC determination applications says. The Minister has told us of one extra requirement when motels are contracted, for sealed smoke alarms. But once again the word from the ground is that is not uniformly enforced.
The numbers of motels is relevant for context: how big is the possible problem? I’m aware of the dashboard; however, Community Law and other sources have told me that is an undercount because it is missing those motels that people with vouchers are using in an ad hoc way. This is backed by the Fenz document reference to ‘over 100’ in Rotorua (albeit that was in 2022).
The wider context is that I have reported for 7 years on building regs in NZ, and again and again what comes up is that either the regs are inadequate/have not kept pace with changes, or the regs are there but people are not following them/there’s lack of enforcement (eg with passive fire, seismic)
Response
We provided the following information:
Are you trying to determine how many motels etc are providing emergency housing? That information can be found at the following link: View the monthly Rotorua Temporary Housing Dashboards at the bottom of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development's Housing Accord webpage.
Re the number of fires, I’ll check if that is something RLC has recorded.
You will need to speak to MBIE regarding the determination process.
Just to clarify re the dashboard, that is all accommodation providers (contracted and uncontracted premises) with Emergency Housing – Special Needs Grant clients, as reported by MSD.
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Media: Local Democracy Reporter
Topic: Asbestos
Enquiry
I am picking this is a regional council thing but please advise if not. I've been told there has for the last two months been dumped construction material containing asbestos in the Hauraki Stream by Fryers Rd and the last week has been dampened down and removed. It was due to be complete today.
Can I please have confirmation this is accurate, or any clarification to the above? Is it known who dumped the material? Where it came from?
What has been the cost for dealing with this? Who will pay for this?
What environmental impact has this had, or will have? Should residents be concerned about asbestos risk? What is the asbestos risk and what has been done to mitigate this?
How many incidents of this kind each month/year the council has to deal with in the Bay of Plenty, Rotorua?
Any message to the public?
Response
We informed the reporter that RLC was not aware of or involved with this.