Opportunity knocks with new Council

By Wayne Walker, Albany Ward Councillor

The Hibiscus Coast has much to gain from the new Auckland Council. There will be fresh opportunities to improve the liveability of our communities and benefit from the extension of programmes from elsewhere in Auckland to our area. Public transport improvements, eco-initiatives, cost savings, planning re-thinks and safer communities are all likely wins.

The new Park and Ride at Silverdale will improve parking availability and patronage for the Hibiscus Coast and the North Shore. With a big increase in use likely when the works on the city side of the bridge are complete and the busway runs right into the city, we may need more space for parks and more land than has been purchased to date. Silverdale’s traffic problems need a strategic sorting out with two new supermarkets, a Bunnings Warehouse, mega The Warehouse, Warehouse Stationery and Southern Cross Hospital in the planning and the swimming pool complex nearing completion.

With the rejection by the Environment Court of Rodney’s plans for additional high-rise in Orewa we can expect a re-think of housing densities in the soon to be started Spatial Plan for Auckland. There will also be opportunities to re-look at housing densities, recreation spaces, shopping and commercial precincts and the overall liveability of our communities.

Much of the Hibiscus Coast is at a crossroads. We can continue to intensify our communities with more people and associated congestion problems, or opt for less crowded communities, less traffic congestion and more green spaces. Over this year and next the planning and consultation will give you the opportunity to have your say. Already we know that the cost of water on the Hibiscus Coast is coming down, as we move towards matching the cost elsewhere. I have no doubt that there will be much-needed efficiencies in the processing of building consents and initiatives to assist local businesses.

The Ambassadors Programme in place in Manuaku City has great potential on the Hibiscus Coast as a way of making our communities, and especially our shopping centres, friendlier, safer places and better for local businesses at the same time as providing new skills and assistance to the long-term unemployed.

I look forward to working with local people and communities, the new Local Boards, the other Auckland Councillors and the Mayor to make the new initiatives work.

The Viewpoint column will be written on alternate months by Cr Michael Goudie and Cr Wayne Walker.