Upper Hutt opens council facilities to all to ‘normalise life’

Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy is standing by a decision not to require vaccine passes for access to his council’s facilities.

Across the Wellington region, councils have introduced rules requiring Covid-19 vaccine passes at pools, libraries and recreation centres, following the introduction of the traffic light system on December 3.

The notable exception is the Upper Hutt City Council, which does not require vaccine passes to be shown at most of its public facilities.

Upper Hutt councillors met informally yesterday to discuss the situation.

Guppy said a range of views were expressed, but he believed the decision not to use passes was the right one.

The ‘‘bottom line’’ was the governmentissued guidelines delegated the decision to councils, he said.

‘‘We have been living in fear for almost two years and the guidance was about starting to normalise life. We are making sure the public facilities we have are open to every one and people are not being excluded.’’

The decision not to use passes was made by the chief executive and could be reviewed at a council meeting later this month, Guppy said.

He noted 96 per cent of locals had received their first vaccine and rules around wearing masks and social distancing remained in place.

Prior to the Friday meeting, one councillor said the ‘‘s... had hit the fan’’ and the public’s reaction since the Thursday announcement was unprecedented.

After the meeting, councillor Dylan Bentley said he’d received a lot of feedback and was ‘‘concerned’’ about the decision not to use passes. Some residents no longer felt safe and would stay away from pools and libraries, he said.

‘‘My first and foremost concern is about the safety of our community, especially those groups who are vulnerable.’’

More than 550 people had commented on the council’s social media site by midday yesterday.

A post from the council said it would respond to some of the questions raised by residents next week and it would be reviewing the decision later this month.