With there still being no clarity on when data from Census 2018 will be available or how accurate it will be, Kāpiti Coast mayoral candidate Gwynn Compton says this raises concerns about the lack of up-to-date information.
He says the absence of this census data may be impacting on Kāpiti’s access to central government funding for infrastructure projects and basic services such as education and healthcare.
“The New Zealand Transport Agency relied on Census 2013’s out-of-date population growth figures when they wrote their deeply flawed business case to cancel the Peka Peka interchange. This could well be the first of potentially many examples of how the lack of accurate and relevant data is costing us central government funding that’s badly needed to support Kāpiti’s growth,” says Mr Compton.
“We all know how much things have picked up since even before the opening of the Mackays to Peka Peka Expressway, and we’re going to see population growth accelerate with the completion of Transmission Gully too. The unavailability and potential unreliability of data from Census 2018 opens up big questions about whether the right decisions are being made when it comes to funding to support Kāpiti’s growth.”
Mr Compton’s concerns about the lack of up-to-date and accurate census information also extend to much more fundamental services such as education and healthcare.
“Kāpiti’s school network is already badly over capacity, and with decisions on funding new classrooms, extra teachers, and more resources for the district needing to be made by central government, we deserve to have confidence that the population figures informing those decisions are up-to-date and accurate so Kāpiti gets its fair share,” says Mr Compton.
“This is just as important for access to healthcare, with it already being difficult enough to get a doctor’s appointment at the best of times, and demand only increasing for a full after hours medical and triage service in Kāpiti.”
