Our Regiongw.govt.nzNews from the Greater Wellington Regional Council

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Well done Wellington for your resilience in cleaning up the aftermath of Sunday’s 6.5 earthquake and playing your part in restoring the region to normality.

The earthquake and resulting aftershocks have caused a scare for many in the region and should serve as a reminder for residents to check their emergency kits and to reaffirm their family escape plans. Greater Wellington Regional Council is also urging employers to discuss emergency plans with staff.

While the earthquake did not cause widespread damage in the city, one of the buildings affected is the regional council offices in Wakefield Street. Engineers have assessed the building and found that while there is not significant damage to the structure of the building, the stairwells are compromised and should not be used.

As a result Wellington Regional Council will be relocating from its existing location to new premises at Shed 39 on Wellington harbour. The council was originally scheduled to move into the new building in November, but that date has now been brought forward and it is hoped that at least half of our affected staff will be relocated to Shed 39 in about two weeks.

While we work through the finer details of the move to our new premises, the council has a small staff operating on the ground floor of the Wakefield Street building, including our reception staff to deal with queries from the public. If you have any questions please call 0800 496 734.

Regional Council to bring forward move to new premises

Busy time for Wellington harbourIt has been a busy time for the Wellington Harbourmaster this month with two storms recording wind gusts of up to 202km/h and twice the average rainfall for the month. Shipping traffic was also attention-grabbing with the arrival of one of the widest vessels to visit

Local authority elections are coming. If you think you have what it takes to represent the people of the Wellington region, now is the time to prove it.

Nominations for council are now open. To learn more about Wellington Regional Council, come to our candidate information evening 6pm, Tuesday 30 July, which will be held in committee Room 2, Wellington City Council, 101 Wakefield St.

Election nominations close 12 noon on 16 August. Nominations are being received at the GWRC ground floor reception area, 142 Wakefield Street.

Nominations now open

Other council staff are working either from home or shared facilities to ensure that the needs of the region are met. The council offices in Wairarapa have not been affected by the earthquake and are operating at full capacity.

Essential operations including bulk water supply and all on the ground operations including flood protection, biosecurity, parks and the harbour master have not been affected and continue to operate normally.

To ensure the region is resilient to earthquakes like the one that struck on Sunday, the regional council puts significant time and effort into protecting infrastructure so that vital services are able to be resumed as quickly as possible.

For example, we have worked with GNS Science to identify vulnerable points in our water supply lines and have inserted cut off valves to water supply lines where they cross over the fault line. This enables workers to reconnect the pipes by using above-ground hosing.

Work has also been carried out to earthquake strengthen the water storage lakes at Te Marua to boost the resilience of our supply.

While we can’t be sure if or when the big one will come, we can make sure we are as prepared as possible. So stock up your emergency kits, confirm your family escape plan and remember to drop cover and hold in the event of an earthquake.

Staff at Greater Wellington Regional Council will be moving out of the Wakefield Street office and into Shed 39 at Wellington Harbour.

Wellington City’s future publiC transport spine options: tell us What you think

The Wellington Public Transport Spine Study has identified and evaluated the three most feasible future options for public transport through central Wellington: bus priority, bus rapid transit and light rail transit.

More information about the study and all the reports are available at www.gw.govt.nz/ptspinestudy

The Regional Transport Committee would like to know what you think about the options.

You can give us feedback:

• Online at http://haveyoursay.gw.govt.nz/PTSpineStudy

• By filling in the Freepost submission form in the Public Transport Spine Options brochure. Phone us on 0800 496 734 and we’ll send you a copy or pick one up from: - Greater Wellington Regional Council Centre – 142 Wakefield Street, Wellington

- Wellington City Council Service Centre – 101 Wakefield Street, Wellington

- Wellington Central, Newtown and Kilbirnie libraries.

• By writing a submission and sending it to Greater Wellington Regional Council, Wellington’s Public Transport Spine Options, Freepost 3156, PO Box 11646, Wellington 6142.

We need your feedback by 4pm, Monday 30 September 2013.

environment hotline

0800 496 734(24hr)

Remember, you need to be enrolled to vote. Enrolling by 16 August is the easiest way for you to have your say.Your enrolment pack has been sent and by now you should have checked that your details are right.

If you didn’t receive an update pack, you are not enrolled to vote. If you need to enrol or update your details, jump online at www.elections.org.nz or visit any PostShop.

Election voting papers will be delivered from 20 September. Postal voting closes at midday Saturday 12 October.

For more information about the elections, visit www.gw.govt.nz/elections

the Port of Wellington, plus the world’s fastest vessel also cruising in.

The storms caused considerable problems for the vessel MIYAKE a 3,678 gross tonne LPG tanker, which required the assistance of two tugs, when it experienced problems when leaving the harbour. The Miyake was left to find her own way back into the

safety of the harbour when the tugs were called to help another vessel. The 60,000 tonne car carrier Trans Future 7 broke 14 mooring lines which have a collective breaking strain of between 840 and 1302 tonnes.

During the last few weeks the 36,064-gross-tonne Stena Paris, a 40-metre wide beam, (approximately eight metres wider

than many other tankers which routinely berth at Seaview), visited Wellington; the Interislander ferry Kaitaki came within 50 metres of ending up on the rocks; and the world’s fastest ship, the 99-metre-long wave-piercing catamaran Francisco, which is capable of speeds of 58.1 knots (about 107kmh) also visited.

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Harbourmaster Mike Pryce and Deputy Harbourmaster Patrick Atwood inspect the mooring of the world’s fastest ship.