The district council has back-tracked on its decision to cut funding for its roving secretaries for Selwyn’s township committees.

The decision was made as part of the district council’s recent Long Term Plan 2018-2028 deliberations.

A district council spokesman said it has “agreed to provide a specified amount for a 12-month period.”

He said committees which had been using the roving secretary service and were wanting to continue, would receive funding.

This follows responses from townships committees calling the district council’s initial plan of committees paying for secretaries through discretionary funds, “unacceptable.”

Whitecliffs Township Committee members Liz Weir and Jodie Thompson made a submission on the district council’s LTP.

In the submission, they said using the discretionary funds it currently receives, it would only be able to fund eight meetings a year and “have nothing left to community improvements.”

The district council spokesman said it is looking at ways to support the volunteer secretaries to community committees in future.

He said it costs about $200 to provide a secretary for a meeting, depending on the location and time involved.