DCC Social Wellbeing Strategy 2012: BRCT submission

21 September 2012

Draft Social Wellbeing Strategy
Dunedin City Council
PO Box 5045
Dunedin 9058

Submission on the Dunedin City Council’s Draft Social Well-being Strategy.

Submitters’ Names: Blueskin Resilient Communities Trust (attention: Scott Willis)   
Address: 31 Hill Street, RD2 Waitati, 9085 Dunedin District       
Phone (day): 03 4822048   
Phone (evening): 03 4822249
Email:    waitatienergy@gmail.com   
Table of contents
1    Overview    2
2    Specific Recommendations    3
2.1    Co-operation between departments    3
2.1    Compact Cities with Resilient Townships    3
2.3    Aligning community funding to DCC priorities    3
2.4    Affordable and Healthy Homes    4
2.5    Transport and Stronger Communities    4
2.6    Measuring Success    5
2.7    Fundamental Themes affecting Social Well-being    5
3    Other Submissions and Initiatives we endorse    6

We, Blueskin Resilient Communities Trust, wish to speak to our submission

1    Overview

Thank you for this opportunity to submit to the Dunedin City Council Draft Social Well-being Strategy.

The Blueskin Resilient Communities Trust (BRCT) is a registered charitable trust formed in 2008 out of the need to support local sustainability and transition initiatives in a planned and structured way. In 2009 BRCT was selected to be one of five national Climate Change Hubs supported by the Hikurangi Foundation. Our current core activity is supporting the development of a resilient energy system in Blueskin Bay  and we provide services for people and community groups in our area and in Dunedin. Jeanette Fitzsimons is our patron.

We wish to acknowledge the significant strategic work undertaken by the Dunedin City Council to make Dunedin one of the world’s great small cities, and the good work that is going into the Social Well-being Strategy in particular.

We believe the DCC can build greater social well-being through: horizontal co-ordination across the different sectors of the DCC (an exciting new DCC direction); resourcing the Urban Form Objective of “Compact Cities with Resilient Townships”; aligning community funding with DCC priorities;  giving attention to the strategic direction of affordable and healthy homes; giving attention to transport and stronger communities; measuring success; fundamental themes affecting social well-being.

This submission has been prepared with input from BRCT staff, volunteers and trustees and has benefitted from BRCT’s participation in workshops and community events.

We, Blueskin Resilient Communities Trust, wish to speak to our submission.

2    Specific Recommendations
2.1    Co-operation between departments

We applaud innovative efforts to develop horizontal co-ordination and break down barriers between different parts of the DCC. We believe that this type of approach will be helpful for work in most areas of DCC activity and wish to strongly encourage the approach.

Action: We request that the Council:
•    Develop a multi-cooperation budget line only accessible to cross sector working groups as an incentive to encourage co-operation between different departments.
•    Encourage/facilitate greater participation by the community sector through cross-sector working groups.
•    Creation of delegated responsibility within council to ensure the development of cross sector working groups can be facilitated, measured and reported on.

2.2    Compact Cities with Resilient Townships

The spatial plan is a physical development plan with significant implications for social well-being. A great strength of the spatial plan is the intention to encourage resilient townships. We believe that the DCC can enhance its objectives through forming partnerships with groups already active within townships and through creating a budget for developing this Urban Form Objective, as the Porirua City Council has done with great success.

Action: We request that the Council:
•    Develop a working group to implement the Urban Form Objective.
•    Establish a budget line to allow the Objective to be implemented with budget for at least one dedicated salary and budget for projects development.

2.3    Aligning community funding to DCC priorities

Currently, DCC community funding is in a big pot with little guidance on how it should be used. By simply ensuring that the funding committee has guidance on directing funding towards DCC priority areas, progress can be made on advancing the strategic directions set out in the draft Social Well-being Strategy.

Action: We request that the Council:
•    Develop a selection criteria for community funding that aligns with priorities that support the larger strategic directions.

2.4    Affordable and Healthy Homes

We acknowledge that the Energy Plan is still in early development and consider that this plan, while covering much more ground than just residential property, will also provide some further implementation guidelines to achieve Affordable and Healthy Homes. The DCC already has roles in building social well-being in the area of Affordable and Healthy Homes (i.e. electricity fund, rates rebates, social housing, targetting rate [not yet implemented - under review]). We believe that greater value may be achieved from existing DCC roles and further value may be achieved through the proposed Targetted Rate service model, as well as investment in ensuring the Energy Plan is developed after broad engagement with Dunedin communities.

Action: We request that the Council:
•    Support the development of an independent energy advice service for Dunedin, as currently being trialled by a Community-University team in the form of BRCT and Energy Cultures working together. This support could take the form of fundraising assistance, direct funding, resource development, web development assistance, etc, and should be directed at turning the trial (July – Nov) into a durable independent community service.
•    Evaluate the electricity fund (a fund to help people with high electricity costs) for effectiveness in developing Affordable and Healthy Homes (would information, knowledge and tools provide a more durable solution?).
•    Consider the Targetted Rate service as a trial which should not be required to be cost neutral in the trial period, and which, if successful, may offer a powerful mechanism for delivering Affordable and Healthy Homes. Approve the trialing of the Targetting Rate.
•    Set a standard for all new homes to have covered bicycle parking installed as part of the design, given the benefits of cycling to boost health (reduce obesity), and its ideal nature and comparative advantage for journeys of up to 3km from the home.

2.5    Transport and Stronger Communities

A well connected transport system is critical to our social well-being and to build stronger communities. Consumer spending in 2012 is up, on the back of increased spending on fossil fuels . We are in ‘Peak Oil’, therefore expanding household spending on transport reduces the propotion of the pie for other household priorities, and will lead to a decrease in social well-being over time if no social adaptation occurs. However, provision of low carbon, low cost transport options will help maintain a balanced household budget pie while building greater social connection. Blueskin Bay is particularly affected by different transport options and BRCT is interested in the potential to build stronger communities through transport. Our communities were in recent times connected via the rail link, the demise of which impacted negatively social and economic wellbeing. (Families have made it known to us that they had to move into Dunedin, after the end of the regular train, given they were not able to afford a powerful enough, reliable family car to cope with the need to drive over this hills in/out of Dunedin).  Our communities  could easily be reconnected with the re-establishment of a rail-car, which would boost social wellbeing considerably (viz mothers and prams, young families with bicycles), and stimulate local employment. Similarly, many paper roads and walking/cycling tracks could provide cycle and pedestrian access between our communities independent of busy and dangerous main roads. We are aware of the development of a Dunedin Transport Strategy aimed at integrating the Walking, Cycling, Parking and Transportation Strategies and support this work. We encourage consideration of rail as part of an integrated transport solution as well.

Action: We request that the Council:
•    Support the development of ‘Park and Ride’ facilities specifically designed for cyclists (a place to securely park a bike, out of the weather to catch a bus, rideshare, hitchhike or catch a train).
•    Support community efforts to re-establish passenger rail.
•    Work closely with community groups (via the ‘Urban Form Objective?) to pursue local transport solutions devised by local communities aware of local needs.

2.6    Measuring Success

It is important to know what success looks like for any strategy to become meaningful.

Action: We request that the Council:
•    Develop meaningful and measurable goals be developed as part of the Social Well-being Strategy that can be used to uncover the success of the strategy.
•    One element success could be measured would be through the number of collaborations, agreements and partnerships with other partner organisations, including community organisations.

2.7    Fundamental Themes affecting Social Well-being

Energy (including transport), Food, Water, Shelter, and Economy are fundamental themes that cut across all strategies and plans and we consider that they all deserve a cross-departmental team approach.

Action: We request that the Council:
•    Establish cross-departmental teams for 6 months to work on each of these fundamental areas.
•    Ensure these teams then work with stakeholders for the next six months.
•    Weave these theme back into the various strategies including the Social Well-being Strategy.

3    Other Submissions and Initiatives we endorse

We will make reference to other submissions we support at the formal presentation of our submission.

We thank you for your attention to this submission

Yours sincerely,

Scott Willis