Dear Marlborough District Council,

Please see Information posted in Tony Hay OIR No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 before proceeding.

My name is Tony Hay and I am the owner, along with my wife, of 42 Lakings Road, Springlands, Blenheim.

On Thursday 29th October 2020 the full council met. On the agenda for ratification was “Lakings Road – Tree Management (RS10-015-07)” based on a recommendation from the Councils Assets and Services Committee.

I believe that the recommendation was based on flawed and misleading information.

Although I made a submission to the Councils Assets and Services Committee as well as emailing all Councillors before the final full meeting of the Council, I understand from an observer that no time was taken to discuss my concerns. This I find disturbing since the Marlborough Councillors are elected by the rate payers of Marlborough to supposedly protect their interests and ensure that justice is carried out. Seems to me that the Councillors have abdicated their responsibilities and blindly accepted the Assets and Services Committee’s recommendations.

It was interesting to note that the recommendation to the full Council was supported by Author Robin Dunn, Parks and Open Spaces Officer and Authoriser Jamie Lyall, Manager, Property and Community Facilities. I had already made a complaint in respect to the way the reserves section of Council had gone about the survey, even to Mark Wheeler, the CEO of the MDC. I did not receive a reply.

It should be noted that Jamie Lyall was the IT Manager when I joined the MDC in 2004 and its likely he employed me. I worked for the Council for some 9½ years in the IT department.

I have also raised a previous OIR entitled “Protection Orders on Trees on Rate Payers properties” on 29th September 2019. It is still outstanding. The MDC have chosen not to reply to my request even though a reply is required by law after 40 working days. Instead, on the 29th May 2020 Council replied to the OIR via my private email address presumably so it does not appear on the OIR.

So where does this leave me. Battle on and make a complaint and request that the NZ Ombudsman investigate my grievances? As was stated in the Stuff and RNZ article “I will not be silenced”.

My Question

Do the Marlborough Councillors and the Council in retrospect, accept that they may have made a mistake and that they are going to rectify the situation and remove the 3 trees on council road reserve “the berm” to the south of my property at Councils expense?

Yours faithfully,

Tony Hay