Wellsford becomes boulevard of broken Council promises

Wellsford was described as ‘the forgotten town’ by a number of participants at a Rodney District Council meeting held in the community centre last month.

“Wellsford’s been robbed – we’ve got some of the highest rates with some of the poorest services,” resident Colin Smith said.

Others commented on the open drains along SH1 in Te Hana, foul tasting water, and sub-standard wastewaster and sewerage disposal systems.

“All we’ve had from Council is broken promises,” one resident said.

Push Play coordinator Julie Knott said Wellsford suffered from being on the boundary of everything.

“After a lot of lobbying from the community, Council last year approved the construction of a kilometre of footpath to Centennial Park,” she said. “When we enquired why the work hadn’t yet been done, we were told it was a mistake and now they’re unsure if the work will be done. There’s nowhere in Wellsford to safely walk or cycle, children even have to walk on the road to get to school. Meanwhile, Council is digging up perfectly good footpath in Orewa to put in pretty boulevards.”

A Tapora resident criticised the ‘no new seal’ proposal in the current draft Long Term Council Community Plan (LTCCP).

“There’s about $20 million in export earning being hauled over those unsealed roads annually, contributing an awful lot of dollars in road user charges,” he said. “There’s a new sealed road to the new regional park to benefit all the Auckland visitors, but we still have to contend with limestone treated roads that turn to mud in winter and produce horrendous dust clouds in summer.”

Resident Linda Clapham said she shared the frustrations being expressed by others about Council’s performance.

“We’ve attended meeting after meeting to talk about the new library and made several submissions. It was in the last LTCCP ($2.1 million was set aside to build the library in the 2008/09 year) but has now been pushed out again – this time to 20011/12,” she said. “As well, $300,000 was set aside for new public toilets in Wellsford, but that money also seems to have disappeared.”

A library volunteer said the library was an important community facility. She said the recent installation of three computers with broadband access had “kids queuing up” for a turn, yet staff worked in pitiful conditions.

“If you can’t afford a purpose-built building then why not use the land you have at the back of the existing library,” she said.

On the subject of when Wellsford might see some road improvements, specifically a bypass, Council transport manager Barry George said it was a NZ Transport Agency issue, but four-laning to Warkworth and the Warkworth bypass were the priorities.

“A Wellsford bypass is definitely not in the next 10-year timeframe,” he said.

Several residents expressed their concerns for Wellsford in the new Auckland supercity configuration, saying that the town had more in common with Kaipara and Northland. (see panel)

Asked about Council’s plan to sell Council-owned land to reduce its debt, corporate services director Kevin Ramsay reiterated that Council would not make the list of properties on the market publicly available.

Assistant chief executive Warren McLennan said the draft LTCCP was an opportunity to make submissions on the issues raised at the meeting. However, one resident said he believed the community was tired of making submissions that were ignored. Submissions closed on May 1.