This week the Planning Committee of the Whangarei District
Council (WDC) received a bulky report about long-term trends in the number of consents
issued by the Council. The report, it says, presents “a useful picture of how
development in the district is progressing” over a 12 year period to June 2013.
Indeed it does, and the picture is not pretty. The figures
state what many of those at the coal-face have known for many years – the level
of economic activity in our region has virtually collapsed.
