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Hutt City Council,
Aspiring youth politicians have an opportunity to make their contribution to the future of Hutt City at a HCC consultation meeting on Thursday 15 February.
The Council is bringing together up to 250 people, between 4 and 8pm on that day, with the aim of having a representational cross section of the Hutt City community.
HCC spokesperson, Don Carson says the Council wants to attract not only the city's next generation, but people from ethnic groups and from all of the suburbs of the city.
"We are personally inviting some people along, particularly from the business community. But we also want others to put their hands up to participate."
Don Carson says the idea of convening such a meeting comes from overseas experience, particularly the Spruce Grove Council in Canada.
"They were dissatisfied with the formal consultation process, and wanted to get a more grass roots feel for what residents wanted for their town, and they came up with inviting some of them in and hearing their views on priorities for Council spending."
Don Carson says HCC already has a greater degree of consultation with ratepayers and residents than the law requires.
"We've gone out to the community with the Long Term Council Community Plan every year, though we don't actually have to do it every year. And we get more than a thousand written responses to it each time. "
"But we do feel that we need another level of consultation to assist the councillors with their decision making. There is a gap between the many who send in a written response to the LTCCP, and the few who turn up to make personal submissions to the Council on it. They are usually advocates for a particular project or service."
Don Carson says HCC would like to provide all the services and facilities that people in the city ask for.
"But the issue that the councillors then have to grapple with is, that we can't afford everything. They have to set priorities. This consultation meeting for the first time is to try to get people in the city, who have no particular campaign or agenda, to get round the table and express their opinions on where the priorities ought to be."