21 June 2021
Matt Young
'[FYI request #15596 email]'
Tēnā koe Matt Young,
Request for Information – Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987
We refer to your official information request dated 28 May 2021:
“Can I please be provided with all full submissions to HCC's Long Term Plan 2021-31.
For reference an archive of submissions to HCC's 2020 Annual Plan is available here-
http://iportal.huttcity.govt.nz/Home/Search?Tab=31&query=container%3A[uri%3A55
94196]
I am requesting the same for the 2021-31 LTP.”
Our Response:
A decision was made not to make all the feedback received during the engagement on the
Long Term Plan 2021-31 publically available as has occurred in the past because of the
volume and form of the feedback. This included post-it notes at workshops, transcripts from
community meetings, emails, letters, survey forms, flyers and phone calls.
Council is committed to enabling far greater participation and transparency in this democratic
process. Part of this commitment included assuring people that, unless they wished to speak
at the submissions hearing, their feedback could be made informally and would remain
confidential.
To summarise, the decision to provide a summary rather than all the feedback was made
because of the sheer volume of feedback and the process, resources and time involved in
maintaining confidentiality. We are therefore declining your request under section 17(f) of
the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act as the information cannot be
made available without substantial collation. We have considered whether charging or
extending the time to respond to your request, however in both instances this would
unreasonably interfere with the ability for us to carry out our usual work.
This information has been released in another form; a summary of this information is
available through the link below.
http://www.huttcity.govt.nz/Your-Council/Have-your-say/10-year-plan-2021-2031/
We have also released a document which outlines the content summary of each piece of
feedback received that was not on a formal form, the one exception is notes taken at the
community workshops held by the Mayor that were invite only. This is available through the
link below.
http://iportal.huttcity.govt.nz/Record/ReadOnly?Tab=31&Uri=5926762
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision.
Information about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz
or freephone 0800 802 602.
Please note that this letter (with your personal details removed) may be published on the
Council’s website.
Nāku noa, nā
Wendy Moore
Head of Strategy & Planning
