This story started with a few questions to the NPDC about a Citizen’s Panel for a Spatial Plan, but as often happens with the NPDC, it turned in to something a bit bigger.

This is a story we thought would be a few questions to the NPDC about the Bell Block Spatial Plan Citizen’s Panel, with a reasonably short update with the answers. But as things often happen with the NPDC it turned in to something a bit bigger than we were expecting.

This started from an OIA we did about the Citizens Panel concept, which is very new to NZ, and being tested for the first time in New Plymouth with the Bell Block Spatial Plan. We have answers below to most of the questions we asked.

This led to a search of the current Long Term Plan (LTP), which is the consultation process for the community, to see where we were all consulted on using a Citizens Panel process. We have attached a document of all the places in the LTP where Spatial Panning is mentioned. Citizen Panels are not to be seen.

The answers to our questions, and the LTP search, crossed over the new RMA which is being worked on by the Central Government, with submissions closing next month, and new Government expectations of how Spatial Plans will be done. There is no mention of using Citizens Panels in the new RMA – in fact there is specific mention ALL of the community are to be heavily involved in the development of Spatial Plans.

There is mention in the LTP that the new RMA will be very different, but 2023 spatial planning work continues anyway, even though Central Government asked for a hold to be put on this work.

And then, answers to our questions also crossed in to a Green Masterplan done for New Plymouth in 2022 – when we looked in to the facilitators who will run the Citizens Panel. This Masterplan is a plan to get us out walking, biking and rearranging transport and parking all across the city. The company who employ the facilitators, and, one of the facilitators, were heavily involved in the part of the plan for the City Centre Strategy, developed in 2022 in Neil Holdom’s time as Mayor.

We have a link to the work the company did in 2022, which may surprise many people, and sets the tone of how the people at this company view the world, which is quite different to many ratepayers.

The OIA

We asked questions about how this group of 25 invited representatives for the Citizens Panel will work and how this group will fairly represent the Bell Block community.

We wrote a story late last year explaining why we are not fans of Citizen Panels. If you haven’t seen that story, read why we have that view here:

https://www.npratepayers.nz/blog/2243555

We are told that this new way of doing things with Citizen’s Panels is needed as certain groups of the community are not able to participate in democracy today as it is too hard. That is often portrayed as young people and people with children. That may be the case, but when you look at how the 25 people have been selected, this new system doesn’t really cater for a true representation of those groups of the community either.

And, we just can’t get our head around how 25 people invited to participate by the NPDC are meant to be a fair representation to have “the voice” of the 8,000 + people who live in Bell Block. And we know many of the Bell Block Community feel the same way.

So, most of the questions we asked about the Bell Block Citizen’s Panel are below (one question has been extended with no answer yet).

Question 1 : What data are you using to identify the representative population for Bell Block, to be used for the Citizen’s Panel. Please supply that data.

Response:

To ensure a diverse spread of individuals with varied skill sets, lived experiences, associations with clubs, new and long-term perspectives of residents in Bell Block, the panel selection process seeks to include a variety of people with differing perspectives and lived experiences as opposed to a representative data set of the community based on statistics.

Question 2 : How have you analysed that data to select the representation population group for the Citizens Panel ? Please provide that analysis.

Response:

The method used for the selection process is as follows. This process was developed to ensure an unbiased selection process, using nomination information provided by nominees:

• All responses were collated and assessed by 3 evaluators.
• Names of nominees were not provided to evaluators to ensure that the nominations were assessed using the information that nominees had provided.
• Nominations were assessed against each category (provided below) to which all nominees were eligible to be scored against. Each were scored from 0-5.
• All candidates were then ranked on total scores, then ranked again for each category to reveal the selected individual (highest to lowest scores).
• As individuals were selected for each respective category, the nominee would be excluded as successful, allowing the remaining nominees to be assessed. 

Question 3: What criteria are you using to place 25 people on the Citizens Panel who match the actual representation of the current population of Bell Block ?

Response: 

Categories assessed were as follows:

• New Bell Block Resident (3 people) - “Lived in Bell Block less than 5 years”
• Long Term Bell Block Resident (3 people) – “Lived in Bell Block longer than 5 years”
• Bell Block Organisation/ Business/ Worker/ developer (3 people) – “Has a business or worker perspective of Bell Block. Business owner or operator, works in the Bell Block Community or a land/property developer”
• Bell Block Community Clubs/ Groups (3 people) “Involved in community-based organisations that are clubs, volunteer based, community groups, sports etc”
• Professional Skills or Insights (3 people) – “May have a skill set that might be a helpful perspective for the panel to have – Statistician, doctor, teacher, surveyor, engineer”
• Youth/ Young Adults/ Under 25 (2 people)
• Over 65 ( 2 people)
• Relationship to the land (whenua) (3 people) – “Whakapapa to Puketapu hapū, are they maintaining connections and are actively participating in Bell Block, Indication that there is a vested interest in Puketapu.”
• Other (2 people) – “Lived insights or clear connection to Bell Block - i.e disability, age associated, children attending schooling in Bell Block, actively engaged in the community.”

Question 5: Citizen Panel workshops will have trained facilitators provided by the NPDC to run these workshops. Please advise who these facilitators are.

Response:

Yes, the facilitator is a trained and locally based facilitator, Travis Wooller and Auckland based co-facilitator Fin Foster from consultants Isthmus, who are the appointed Consultant for the Bell Block Spatial Plan project.

***Alliance Note: Please see at the end more about these facilitators, who they work for, and previous work they have been involved with. You are likely to be surprised. And you may wonder how “impartial” their view of the world is in setting the tone and intent for this panel.

Question 6: As a council run workshop will these be open to the public in the same way elected official workshops are open to the public. So people observing the workshops wouldn’t be able to speak, just observe. Will the public be able to attend the workshops to ensure transparency about council information being provided to participants.

Response:

No. These meetings will be closed. To ensure this process is transparent NPDC will be recording the sessions discussions with a meeting scribe. These notes will be a detailed record of the sessions conversations along with workshop notes and materials will be shared with the public through the project website for transparency

https://haveyoursay.npdc.govt.nz/bell-block-spatial-plan

The new RMA – and Spatial Plans

We have to ask, why are we wasting Rates Income on testing a Citizens Panel Concept in New Plymouth when there is a new Spatial Plan process coming with the new RMA, and the RMA is very specific about how the Government want this process done ? There is no mention at all about using things like Citizen’s Panels, and the RMA specifically mentions how the legislation will require Spatial Plans to be prepared.

We will do another story on the RMA – soon – which we have some concerns about – but Spatial Plans are mentioned in the RMA and the intent of how Central Government wants them to work.

We are pleased to see that the WHOLE community has to have a say and everyone has to be involved – right from the start – with the future RMA. Consultation is not an after thought after a few select people the Councils invite have had their input. Plans won’t be signed off by Central Government unless the community as a whole has plenty of opportunity for input.

What is in the new RMA about Spatial Plans ?

This is the wording in the purpose section of the legislation:

“Under the Bill, spatial planning will be mandatory for each region and must be developed collaboratively by all local authorities within the region, through a spatial plan committee. Central government involvement at the governance and working levels is provided for, and committee arrangements will need to uphold relevant iwi participation legislation and related arrangements.

Spatial plans will support planning for urban development and infrastructure within environmental limits and constraints, providing strategic direction for growth over a 30-year period. Spatial plans form part of the combined regional plan and must implement national instruments. Spatial plans will be implemented by land-use plans under this Bill, and natural environment plans under the Natural Environment Bill.

The spatial planning process is designed to support integrated decision-making between this Bill and the Natural Environment Bill, and integration of development planning with infrastructure planning and investment. Regional land transport plans under the Land Transport Management Act 2003 must be consistent with spatial plans, and long-term plans under the Local Government Act 2002 must help implement spatial plans.

Spatial plan committees are required to consult with iwi authorities and customary marine title groups in the region in preparing the draft spatial plan. They must also work with others with a strong interest in spatial planning for that region, including core infrastructure operators, development and community sector groups, and neighbouring local authorities during plan development. The committees must recommend the draft spatial plan to the region’s local authorities for approval to notify it for public submissions.

Local authorities must establish an Independent Hearings Panel (an IHP) to hear public submissions on the draft spatial plan and make recommended changes. Local authorities must either accept IHP recommendations or decide an alternative solution that is consistent with the requirements of the Bill. The Minister and designating authorities also have a decision-making role in certain circumstances. Points of law appeals and limited merits appeals are available.”

In the Case of Taranaki, the 3 Mayors - from New Plymouth, Stratford and South Taranaki - will be responsible for managing an integrated Spatial Plan for the entire region, following the new rules, under the new RMA.

So, is the Bell Block Citizen’s Panel exercise a complete waste of money ? Will this leave this council open to a plan for Bell Block that won’t be approved by Central Government as the entire New Plymouth Community is not having a chance to have input to prepare the Bell Block consultation documents ?

• How does this one small Spatial Plan fit in the new big picture for all of Taranaki ?
• And, how does this Spatial Plan being done now, fit with rules which are not yet in place, but they will be later this year ?
• Will this plan have to be done again, or updated ? At the ratepayer’s expense.

The Facilitators and the Company they work for -  The Isthmus Group

The trained facilitators are a very big part of what conversations take place when this Citizen’s Panel gets together. We see these are fully trained facilitators for Citizen Panels but there is no mention what qualification they have gained and what that is called.

We know from our OIA reply that Travis Wooller and Fin Foster are consultants for a company called Isthmus.

It turns out the company they work for has done previous work for the NPDC.

Today we will tell you about Isthmus and the 2022 City Centre Strategy work they did for the NPDC.

But this story will have a second part – where we will tell you about the bigger plans for wider across the city.

People have been very unhappy with the Devon Street West cycleway and how that has played out in everyday lives, both residential and business people. We were aware last year there is a masterplan for carparks and cars to be progressively removed from the entire city, we just have not had the time to pull that story together with more pressing things to cover.

There is NO ACTIVE PLAN with the new Mayor and Councillors to put this in place at this time, but a full plan has been prepared, and pieces of it did get underway with the elected officials in Neil Holdom’s term. (The Huatoki Corridor Masterplan is part of this City Centre Strategy).

We will do another story (soon) which has the full plan across the city – but we were surprised to find the lead facilitator for the Bell Block Spatial Plan was very heavily involved with the 2022 New Plymouth City Centre Strategy, which many people in New Plymouth know nothing about.

The company the facilitator works for – Isthmus - is Auckland based and they have a page on their website dedicated to their 2022 Project for our City Centre. The look and feel of this company, and how they approach the world, is shown very clearly on this webpage. The link is here:

https://isthmus.co.nz/project/ngamotu-city-centre-strategy/

(If you want to know more about this company, after you have read the page at this link – in the bottom right hand corner click on the word “Menu” to see more of their work).

Some of this new way of doing things sounds quite good at a high level with the description of the concept. But how the warm fuzzy words actually play out, with the way of thinking of the people who are leading the conversations for our Citizens Panel, about the future of our city, is not necessarily how many people in New Plymouth see the world.

And are we allowed to say, some of the other work showing on their website looks very expensive from a ratepayer’s point of view.

We see this as an exercise where a small group of people are pulled together, they are led to a certain direction by questions being asked by facilitators who don’t think like most of our city, and they come up with concepts which do not actually represent many of the people who live here.

And by the time everyone who does live here gets to be consulted, all sorts of options are on paper that no one gets to SAY NO TO in a consultation document.

They pick from option 1 to 4 – none that they really like.

So, the answers to our OIA questions have not managed to change our concerns about Citizens Panels, the answers only managed to open other cans of worms.

We will have information about the new RMA out soon. We have some concerns about political over reach with democracy, but there seems to be a clear intent that all the people who live in a region MUST be able to have their say about creating future Spatial Plans, and using Independent Hearings Panels.

The intent is for the Local Government Minister to have the final sign off of Regional Spatial Plans and making sure all the community has been included, if they want to be.

We intend to work with the NPDC to make sure people who want to be involved with input to new spatial planning, right from the start, will have the opportunity to do so.