More on councils (no pun intended)

When we vote for someone to be on a council like Environment Southland, we get the chance to influence the direction that council will take; whether it will be pro-farming, pro-mining and pro-industry or be a council that protects the natural environment from development. Our vote for particular candidates has a real effect on how the council will behave. The present regional council for Southland is, in my view different in nature from those in the past; better balanced and less subject to the influences of industry's lobbying, more representative of the whole Southland community. There are some councillors who champion the farmers and others who speak for the natural environment and the tension created by the different viewpoints is a good thing. That's what democracy is good for. Throwing all this out because council decisions get in the way of the National Government's desire to fast-track development is a very bad idea and one that should be resisted by Southlanders. We should remind Nick and Eric and Bill that Southland is ours, not theirs.

Robert Guyton

(Letter to the editor - 28th Feb 2012)