TAKING THE PULSE OF POWER IN NELSON

If the power goes out in a small rural valley and no-one calls the network company, does anyone – apart from those sitting in the darkness – know about it? For the past 125 years the answer has been absolutely not. An antiquated system means that much of the network sits in black spots, with no way of measuring exactly how much power homes or businesses use. But from next month, Network Tasman, the company that owns the power lines from Farewell Spit to the Collins Valley, will change that.

At a cost of $20 million, the trust will begin installing about 40,000 ‘‘advanced’’ or ‘‘smart’’ meters in homes to replace the old meters which have been in existence for decades. Currently there are about 120,000 such meters, covering about 38,000 customers.Already, 1 million such meters have been installed throughout the country. The Nelson region is next on the list.

LULL IN HOUSE BUILDING EXPECTED TO PICK UP

Building consents, excluding apartments, fell 1.6 per cent in August to 1768 after a near flat month in July. There may have been a lull in house-building work before the general election this month, economists said, but activity was expected to pick up towards the end of the year. There was a drop off in consents issued in both Auckland and Canterbury in August, though they remain the biggest powerhouses for house construction in the country. And the falls in Auckland, down about 15 per cent, and Canterbury, down about 5 per cent, came after some strong results earlier in the year, economists said. In contrast to the recent slow patch for housing, apartment consents are on a roll, with 254 consented in August alone.

Apartments have been on a rising trend for the past 10 months and a growth area for builders. In 2010, apartments were well out of favour, making up barely 4 per cent of the total consents. Now apartments make up more than 12 per cent of total consents. Statistics NZ figures out yesterday showed 2022 new homes were consented in August, including 254 apartments.

CRITIC RUBBISHES LANDFILL PLAN

'Great for Tasman, negative for Nelson'

Bringing the Tasman district’s landfill waste to York Valley behind Bishopdale will halve the city landfill’s life and bring a lot more hazardous waste into Nelson, city councillors have heard. It will also create a regional monopoly for landfill waste and hand the TDC half of Nelson’s landfill asset for nothing.

Under the proposal the TDC will mothball its Eves Valley landfill, which takes 28,000 tonnes of waste a year from four transfer stations and another 2000 tonnes by arrangement.An earlier consultants’ report said Tasman’s waste would increase Nelson’s revenue by $3.4m but add only $640,000 to operating costs. Nelson would pay Tasman $1.7m of the $2.8m surplus to offset the gate rate at York Valley, with the remaining $1.1m split between the councils. Consultant Deloittes had given the landfill a book value of $6.6m, though no market value had been done. Deloittes’ modelling showed in all funding scenarios, the joint landfill proposal was financially beneficial to Nelson. Gibbons Holdings is opposing the plan and made a lengthy written submission to the council.

Governing director Roger Gibbons attended yesterday’s meeting and told the Nelson Mail it didn’t make sense to bring rubbish into a city from the surrounding country. ‘‘They have a beautiful landfill out there at Eves Valley, surrounded by trees, it’s all on natural clay ground. ‘‘The reason the TDC are really on to this is that they’re going to avoid spending $10 to $12 million developing it.’’ Tasman was avoiding investing in its own landfill and would get a rebate for bringing its rubbish into Nelson, Gibbons said.What a fantastic investment for TDC - and for Nelson, negative,negative, negative."Councillors will debate the submissions point-by- point next Friday.

CONSENTS PROCESS CONFUSES

Tasman property owners wishing to undertake low-risk building work are encouraged to seek a building consent exemption, or check to see if the work can be done without a consent. Schedule 1 of the 2004 Building Act, which allows such exemptions, has been around for a while, but it appears few people know about it. But the seemingly simple signoff saw some passionate discussion at yesterday’s district council’s environment and planning meeting.

Golden Bay councillor Paul Sangster waded in saying none of the builders he had checked with had been able to get work signed off without a full consent. And Richmond councillor Michael Higgins noted there appeared to be a disconnect between information given to landowners and builders over the front counter and back-room policy.

ARTS FEST HUB STANDS READY

Strengthening work on the Energy Centre at Founders Heritage Park, which was closed in July, is now complete. The building will be the main performance venue for the Nelson Arts Festival which will open on October 16. The council said detailed assessments had revealed a critical structural weakness in the building and it had now been strengthened to more than 34 per cent of new building standards, under the budgeted cost of $90,000.Work to strengthen the Granary building to more than 34 per cent of the new standards and Duncan House to 67 per cent is also complete.

"THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK"

Keep your thoughts positive
Because your thoughts become
YOUR WORDS.

Keep your words positive
Because your words become
YOUR BEHAVIOUR

Keep your behaviour positive
Because your behaviour becomes
YOUR HABITS.

Keep your habits positive
Because your habits become
YOUR VALUES.

Duke & Cooke Property News is a clipping service publication compiled by Duke & Cooke Ltd, valuation and property specialists. The information contained within this newssheet are excerpts of property-related articles from current local news sources. Full attribution is given for the source of the extracts in order that the reader may refer to the source articles for full information. As this publication is a clipping service only, the articles included do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Duke & Cooke, and these items are included impartially and objectively.

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