Source: Northland Regional Council
The Northland Regional Council (NRC) has adopted its Annual Report for 2021-22.
The report – adopted on 27 September – will be the last in the tenure of CEO Malcolm Nicolson who retires on 30 September.
Mr Nicolson says the 12 months covered by the report was the latest in a series of challenging years both for council and the wider Northland community, much of which could be attributed to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
He says COVID-19 impacted widely across council’s operations, affecting everything from the increased number of visiting boaties to decreased passenger numbers on buses.
“Despite this staff and councillors alike continued to show remarkable adaptability to the new environment we have found ourselves working in.” “We’ve taken all practical and pragmatic steps to ensure we are serving our community as best and as sustainably as we can to offer the same standards of service as we did pre-COVID-19.”
Mr Nicolson says in fact, despite COVID, the council still delivered additional work to the value of about $9M over the course of the year.
“Even with COVID and all the labour shortages we faced over the year, we still delivered more than the previous year.”
Meanwhile, he says a focus for the council in the immediate future is climate change.
“The ongoing climate crisis continues to affect our everyday way of life here in Te Taitokerau – rising sea-levels, coastal erosion, intense weather systems, flash floods, drought and other impacts are changing the way we live.”
Over the past year, the NRC – along with the three district councils – developed the Te Taitokerau Climate Adaptation Strategy, which lays out a path toward effective and aligned adaptation in the region.
“Adopted in April, we are enthusiastic about the implementation of this strategy and the resiliency it will help foster as we face future challenges.”
Mr Nicolson says community adaptation plans, developed by communities with support from councils and setting out short and long-term local adaptation actions, will be at the heart of the council’s work around the region in the next few years.
