Mayors around the South Island, including me, met recently with the new Minister for the South Island and encouraged him to keep advocating for our wider patch.

It helps that James Meager is also the MP for Rangitata and knows well some of our challenges, but was a chance for all mayors and elected members around the South Island to have their say. We had questions about the new minister’s role and how it was going to work.

Some also expressed dissatisfaction about a lack of Government investment in the South Island, particularly in roading – and if you look at the road user charges and petrol taxes collected, and the economic activity delivered by the South Island, we do seem to get significantly less reinvested here than what is collected.

Like many other councils, we have a fragile roading network and we’re trying to get as much value out of our roading repairs and rehabilitations as possible. It’s good to see our summer projects on Maronan Road and Seafield Road reach the sealing stage.

As mayors, we hope that the new Minister for the South Island advocates hard for all of us now he understands our issues and that he will make a fair case for us around the cabinet table.

Council is currently asking for feedback on a draft Climate Change & Sustainability strategy, and I encourage you to take a look, but act quickly as it closes on Sunday.

In our district, water is a key driver for the agricultural sector and technology plays an important role in balancing needs and natural resources.

Climate change is a challenge, but we have some of the smartest and most innovative farmers taking on that challenge and I back them to succeed.

It’s also been a privilege this week to attend the opening of a private solar farm near Tinwald.

Council was invited along to officially celebrate the end of the construction phase and we all look forward to seeing how this new technology will add to our generation capacity.