December 1

The Council that stole Christmas

One of the promises made to all residents of Auckland, prior to amalgamation a year ago, was that there would be no deterioration in levels of service. If memory serves, the Mayor also stressed many times that his administration would be “an enabling” Council so that Auckland could “unleash” its full potential.

These are sounding like empty words in the light of the recent fiasco over resource consents for community events. The cancellation of the Orewa Santa Parade and annual Orewa Boulevard Festival, the re-think by organisers on the future of the Silverdale fireworks and family day, and the added workload imposed on organisers of the Warkworth A&P and Warkworth Rodeo are the fallout from Auckland Council’s hardline on meeting consent requirements.

While there are some diverse reasons involved in the decisions around these events, and these cannot all be directed entirely at Council, the processes being imposed on event organisers are far from “enabling”. And let’s not forget, most of these hardworking representatives, at least here on the Hibiscus Coast, are volunteers.

There is no disputing that resource consent rules are important. We all appreciate that issues such as health and safety, traffic management and waste management need to be properly addressed at any public event. But Council officers have the expertise to guide community volunteers through these processes; recently, they seem more intent on letting people founder in a quagmire of paperwork.

Council needs to address this issue urgently and we need to know the outcome. Without clear and unequivocal assurances that communities can organise events without the impediment of rampant bureaucracy, there will be fewer events; and our communities will certainly be the poorer for it.

At a recent Omaha Forum meeting, Cr Penny Webster suggested that a Council officer in Auckland, “who didn’t understand how Rodney used to do things”, was responsible for the shambles. If this is the case, then perhaps Mr Brown needs to provide some of his staff with a dictionary. In there they would learn that ‘enable’ means: To supply with the means, knowledge, or opportunity. Surely that’s not too much to ask in what is supposedly “the world’s most liveable city”.

June 1

Better governance needed

One thing that has been noted locally about Auckland Council is their even-handedness when it comes to enforcing bylaws, although they have also been accused by community groups of being over-zealous in this regard. A fine example of both these factors at work was last month’s removal of the Estuary Arts Centre’s sign from Whangaparaoa Road, by Council. Council also removed the Leisure Centre’s sign from the same location. The signs were deemed ‘non compliant’ because only signs from community groups (not businesses) are allowed to be placed in that location. The Leisure Centre is a business – a Council-owned one. On the other hand, Estuary Arts Centre is a charitable trust – a fact that Council officers had to be persuaded of through regular correspondence with the Centre following removal of the sign. This is despite the fact that Council supports the Centre by charging only a peppercorn rental for its premises, because of the charitable status.

The arts centre received no notification that there was an issue with the sign prior to its removal, but were contacted afterwards and advised that they must pay $96 if they wanted the sign to be returned. A week (and many emails) later Council notified Estuary Arts that their sign would be returned at no cost and could be reinstated in its former spot. However, wording changes are required to prevent the sign from ‘being directive’.

The Centre, which as readers of this paper will know is struggling to stay afloat at present, must now pay for those changes to be made and claims that the sign fiasco has lost it considerable patronage at its current fundraising exhibition. It seems Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse is not alone in accusing the Council of needing to do more work when it comes to its efficacy at local level.

March 16

SOSSI reaches the conservation coal face

The Shakespear Open Sanctuary has faced its greatest hurdle in creating a pest free haven for native birds and other species. After all the warm fuzzies of building the fence to protect native species come the hard yards of ridding the sanctuary of 10 species of pests including mice, rats, hedgehogs, weasels, stoats, rabbits, feral cats and possums. It is a daunting task; the sanctuary encompasses more than 500 hectares and pests number in the thousands. Pest-free means exactly that – if even one pair of rats remains, it will put the entire project at risk. While it may not seem a sophisticated, or, to some, palatable, solution, dropping poison by helicopter is international best practice for total pest eradication. The plan involves closing the park for more than five months. Rat poison (brodifacoum) will be spread by helicopter using a bucket. On coastal margins, the helicopter will drop bait at a slow speed in narrow, targeted areas and ground crews will remove bait that falls below the high tide mark.

The process was publicly notified and 38 submissions were received, only four in support. Opponents are concerned about poison getting into non-target areas and affecting the health of neighbours, their pets and the environment generally. While for some the end justifies the means, for others nothing justifies the use of any poison and for these concerned citizens, only hand trapping or shooting of each pest would be sufficient. According to Auckland Council the terrain makes such a plan unworkable as it would involve cutting tracks into thick bush damaging the very environment the Sanctuary needs to protect, and these methods would not guarantee elimination of every pest. Open Sanctuary coordinator Matt Maitland said at a local board meeting last month that there was some loss of seabirds during the Tawharanui Sanctuary pest eradication, but the population sprung back and increased substantially once pests were gone. He advised that Vitamin K is the antidote to the rat poison, and it will be available from vets and doctors.

The three drops by helicopter will be in the interior of the park, more than one kilometre from the nearest residence. Bait application was also done by helicopter during the formation of Karori Sanctuary in Wellington in 1999. Karori Sanctuary is in suburban Wellington with neighbours directly adjacent. For this reason the margins were baited by hand to minimise risk.

Although SOSSI’s plan was given the nod by independent commissioners on March 2, there are still genuine concerns among locals, especially those living in Army Bay. The hearts and minds of Hibiscus Coast residents were won over by this project from the outset and the community raised thousands of dollars to make it happen. The vision is for a mainland sanctuary, a rarity in NZ. This vision has been blurred for some by the strong measures used to eradicate pests, but it remains an important and worthwhile one that will be of value to the entire community.

March 2

Stream of consciousness

Hibiscus Coast residents may be largely unaware that the culverting and reclaiming of a 180m section of a tributary of the Weiti River is required in order to accommodate a Bunnings Warehouse of nearly 11,000 square metres in Silverdale. Depending on your standpoint, this may seem a small price to pay. The stream is already modified, and is currently fed by a stormwater pond near Kings Plant Barn via a culvert under Hibiscus Coast Highway. However, the portion of stream that remains down the western side of Bunnings’ site at 18 Hibiscus Coast Highway was evaluated in the former Rodney District Council’s Silverdale South Integrated Catchment Management Plan as a Class 2 stream, with high value and low disturbance.

The proposal is to culvert nearly two-thirds of the around 300m stream, starting at the top. Downstream, where it feeds into the Weiti River, the tributary is home to native fish and eels. Native plants, as well as weed species, are abundant along its banks. In short, it is a habitat, albeit a modified one, that is about to be modified beyond recognition.

Culverting a stream is a discretionary activity and the consent application was publicly notified in January. Eleven submissions were received by Auckland Council. The Bunnings resource consent application states that because of the size of the proposed warehouse and associated parking lot, there is no reasonable or practicable alternative to culverting the stream. It does not mention any alternatives that may have been considered. Among the justifications given for culverting the stream there is the statement “the Weiti River has many other tributaries”. While this is true, it seems an unlikely reason to reduce even further the habitat of fish and other wildlife. The “plenty more where that came from” approach generally does not have a good environmental outcome.

As compensation is required under the Resource Management Act, the company plans to restore a stream in Weranui Road, which is not in the Weiti catchment. Whichever way you look at it, the Weiti River appears to be the loser.

A light at the end of the tunnel perhaps is that, after reading Hibiscus Coast Forest & Bird’s submission on its proposal, Bunnings has asked to meet Forest & Bird representatives at the site this week in hope of resolving issues and in their words, “ensuring appropriate outcomes are achieved”.

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2010

• Penlink heads for back burner
• Part-time board?
• Dartboard elections
• Vote now or forever hold your peace
• Credit where credit’s due
• The cost of a fair hearing
• The thrill is gone
• Fence post marks start of big things
• Heritage in our hands

December 15

Penlink heads for back burner

Any progress on the Penlink Road may have stalled following the independent review commissioned by the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA) and supported by the former Rodney District Council. The report considered the robustness of the business case in the hope of encouraging the NZ Transport Agency to move Penlink up the queue for Government funding. Although the former Council expected the report to go before the Transport Agency, this now looks unlikely. Both Auckland Transport (which has taken on ARTA’s functions) and the Transport Agency are unsure of the current situation regarding the report, with each saying it is now in the domain of the other. Even the former Rodney mayor, once dubbed ‘Penny Link’ by Transport Minister Stephen Joyce, is unsure what happened to the report. How much the report cost ARTA is unclear, but commissioning six experts for eight months’ work does not come cheap.

The draft summary of the report stated that the business case put forward by the former Council was robust, on the basis of the figures provided. However, it also suggested that the figures needed more work and pointed out that the public private partnership upon which the project relies (together with Government subsidy), could be a risky enterprise for any company prepared to take it on.

For more than 10 years Penlink has been promoted as a cure-all for the Hibiscus Coast’s transport problems, which have been caused by population growth in a region where commuting is the norm. The former Council and those residents who strongly support the road did their utmost to get it built, but funding has always fallen at the last hurdle. As a result, a lot of time, energy and money has gone into promoting Penlink with, apart from a designated route, little to show for it. Auckland Transport and Council now need to put their muscle behind the project for it to have any chance of success. Although Len Brown has indicated support for Penlink, his preference is for public transport and there is no doubt that other Auckland roading projects are considered to be more pressing. Penlink has been championed by Rodney MP Lockwood Smith, and the Prime Minister, but in the end, Government funding comes down to value for money.

Perhaps the change in governance is a chance for fresh thinking: to reassess the options for the Hibiscus Coast and put energy into finding alternative, affordable, sustainable solutions that benefit the whole Coast and which might actually get implemented.

November 17

Part-time board?

In the lead up to last month’s local body election, Local Boards were touted as leaders and decision makers with a crucial role to play in the community. They were promised adequate funding and powers to enable them to act as a voice for local concerns. They are also expected to provide important local input into region-wide strategies and plans including those of council-controlled organisations. The Auckland Council has determined that Hibiscus & Bays Board will have an operating budget of $17.6 million and oversee capital expenditure of $10 million.

However, already questions are being raised about the level of remuneration for board members, which most say allows them to work only part-time. Members of the Hibiscus & Bays Local Board receive $35,600 per annum and many already have full time jobs or are seeking work in addition to their Local Board role. In this sense Local Boards are similar to the former Community Boards whose members were dedicated part-timers, yet powers for the Local Board are expected to be considerably more far reaching.

In the meantime, Local Board staff (of which there are eight in Orewa working for both Rodney and Hibiscus & Bays boards) are undertaking non-regulatory responsibilities in areas such as libraries and parks and supporting the board members. The regulatory powers and functions of the Local Boards have not yet been delegated by Auckland Council, although during the campaign the then Mayoral candidate Len Brown said Local Boards would make decisions on issues including local roads, crime prevention, environmental health, liquor licensing and more.
Whether the community involvement that this requires will be possible when board members are only dedicating a few days per week to the job, remains to be seen. Chair Julia Parfitt, who receives $66,700, says she is dedicated to providing accessibility and consultation but has been told the boards are only being resourced for two meetings per month, which she feels is far too few.

Those who stood for the Local Board knew what the remuneration would be, but were largely in the dark about the responsibilities they were taking on, and the time commitment required. They are still in the dark, along with the community, which has been promised much and is waiting to see what is delivered.

September 15

Dartboard elections

The sense of a suggestion made last year that the Auckland Mayor should be chosen in some way other than by the voters of Auckland at large, becomes more evident as each day of the campaign ticks by. At the time, the idea was dismissed as “undemocractic”. Consequently, we have been left with a muddle of names, which defies any serious assessment. On the Hibiscus Coast, voters are being asked to choose two Councillors and four Local Board representatives from a field of 32 candidates. Having a wide choice of people with different ideals and aspirations is challenging but manageable (just) in terms of being able to decide the merits or otherwise of each candidate.

But, to then expect voters to choose who should run Auckland from a field of 23 candidates, most of whom have had little or no exposure, is lunacy. Even the media is struggling to present these candidates with any balance – the higher profile candidates are the ones who are being invited to the debates and meetings, interviewed on radio and TV, and profiled extensively in print media, which naturally gives them the advantage over lesser known candidates. This doesn’t necessarily mean they are any more worthy of our votes. It simply means they have a savvy marketing team, deep pockets and the advantage of an existing public profile. It is unlikely many of us have the time, resources or inclination to research each of these 23 candidates fairly.

The Mayoralty fiasco feels like a taste of things to come – a huge city where although the intentions are good, decision-making becomes increasingly remote and faceless. One wonders how most people will make a decision on who to vote for – perhaps a dartboard would be useful.

The role of the Local Board representatives will be crucial as an interface between the community and big government – it will be these people who are known to ratepayers, accountable and in touch. Perhaps they should have been the ones entrusted with the power to choose the right person to lead Auckland.

September 1

Vote now or forever hold your peace

The latest figures from the Election Office make sobering reading. Nearly 3000 people in Rodney who are eligible to vote are not registered, with the greatest percentage of these in the 30–39 age bracket. Apathy always raises its ugly head at local body election time – in 2007 just 45 percent of eligible voters cast a vote. However the Hibiscus Coast’s inclusion in Auckland Council and the establishment of Hibiscus & Bays Local Board gives this area the opportunity for a new start, and making it work requires community support.

Come November 1, the Hibiscus Coast will be a small fish in a very big pool, including largely urbanised areas of the North Shore and Albany. Effective representation on the Hibiscus Coast division of the Local Board, and at the Council table, will be required for the community’s voice to be heard.

All the mayoral candidates have promised to give real power to the Local Boards, so we can expect the four members chosen from the 13 candidates to have an impact where it counts. Many Local Board candidates are well known in the community for their work in various fields, including Leanne Smith of Destination Orewa Beach, John Drury of Orewa Ratepayers & Residents Association and Jennifer Kipfer, formerly of Orewa Community College. This means their views on issues are, in many cases, already known, which should make voting choices easier.
All five existing Hibiscus Coast Councillors are also standing, either for the Albany Ward, or Local Board, (and, in the case of John Kirikiri, for both) and, despite any politicing that goes on between now and the election on October 9, they will stand or fall on the reputation they have established as Councillors.

The candidates will be out and about this month giving ample opportunities for voters to formulate an opinion on who deserves their vote. Voting papers, which will be sent out on September 17, contain information on each candidate for mayor, Council, Local Board and District Health Board. It will be a large amount of material to digest, but will help in making an informed choice.

This community is often accused of apathy, yet it includes many who have strong views about how they would like to see the Coast develop, how rates are spent and what the priorities for the future should be. There are no excuses for taking a back seat. Get out there on October 9 and have your say.

August

Credit where credit’s due

Spending by politicians, at both local and national level, has been in the news recently following scrutiny of a similar nature in Britain. Journalists have obtained this information to put before the public through the Official Information Act, or, in the case of figures Hibiscus Matters obtained regarding Rodney District Councillors’ expenses, simply by asking.

The exception has proved to be Rodney Mayor Penny Webster’s credit card details, apart from a brief summary covering the last financial year (HM July 14). Anyone who has been in Rodney District Council’s offices in Centreway Road would not expect florists to have done as well out of Penny Webster as they have from John Banks; it was revealed recently that Mr Banks spent $11,523 on flowers during his current term as Auckland mayor.

However, although Penny Webster may, on the face of it, be more frugal than Mr Banks with ratepayers’ money, it is also clear that the information we requested (full details of the Mayor’s credit card spending for this term of Council) should not have been difficult for staff to retrieve.

It therefore raised our curiosity when a charge was levied – along with the suggestion that it could take up to five hours to collate this material. This was not the case for any of the Councillors’ other expenses, which were supplied free of charge although collation of the mileage details took more than a week.

Feedback so far indicates that ratepayers are curious about how Councillors spend their money. Therefore, Hibiscus Matters will pay the charge requested to obtain the credit card details. What comes to light will make interesting reading – not least because it may explain why barriers were raised in defence of this information.

May

The cost of a fair hearing  

Last month the Orewa Residents & Ratepayers Association took their anger at Council’s Variation 101, with strong community support, to the Environment Court (see story). The appeal against the Variation would not have been possible for the 200-strong organisation, without the backing of quietly spoken Orewa couple, Barry and Lynne Thwaites, who fully financed it.

The Association says that the appeal cost well into six figures, which includes retaining a high quality legal team. This sort of sum is normally well beyond the purse of community groups who generally have the will, but not the resources, to appeal resource consent hearings that go against their wishes.

A recent example of this is the highrise apartment block proposed for Manly Village, which got resource consent despite stiff opposition from local residents’ group Manly Protection Society. The group was forced to withdraw their opposition due to lack of funds during Environment Court mediation.

The Orewa residents who are opposed to Variation 101 owe Barry and Lynne Thwaites an enormous debt of gratitude. The couple, who have lived in Orewa for a decade, decided to support the appeal when they realised they were not the only residents feeling disempowered.

They live close to the town centre where Southside Group owns a large piece of land on Hibiscus Coast Highway (formerly owned by Cornerstone Group). Worried by proposed development on this site, as well as elsewhere in Orewa, the couple got in contact with ORRA and found a hard working group with extensive knowledge, and the community behind them, but no funds to take the fight against highrise buildings to court.

Barry and Lynne are not against development per se, as long as it enhances the places where people live. They are also of the opinion that ratepayers are given no consideration as development plans surge ahead, and were prepared to put their hands in their pockets so that the ratepayers’ voices could be heard.

As Orewa residents await the Environment Court judge’s decision, upon which the future shape of their community depends, one thing is certain: the Thwaites’ generosity has given them cause for hope.

April

The thrill is gone

Over the last few months the popular Stanmore Bay playground has been completely revamped. While the new playground has put a smile on many children’s faces, especially those enjoying the new double mast Spacenet, the overwhelming feedback from regular users is disappointment at the lower, less ‘high flying’ flying fox.

There is no doubt that the previous flying fox, put in more than 30 years ago by the Lions Club, provided an exciting ride. Queues regularly formed to experience the freedom and exhilaration of the speedy journey down the wire, after courage was plucked up to make the initial leap from the platform around 3–4 metres above the ground.

Available space is one reason for the installation of a smaller lower flying fox. However, it is health and safety that is uppermost in the mind of Council’s senior parks works engineer Peter Bilton, who oversaw the playground makeover. It is clear that Council wants to bring the playground up to current safety standards and considered it would be exposed to too much risk with a large flying fox in an “unsupervised’ public playground.

From personal observation, parental supervision at the old flying fox was good, largely because it was obvious that this was a good idea. An adult was generally there to help the younger ones, and the older children took on that role when no adults were present.

How many accidents have occurred on the old flying fox is not known, nor their severity. However, despite the gain in safety with the smaller, health and safety approved model, something has also been lost: the chance for children to take risks, challenge themselves, take responsibility for their own safety and that of others, and to remember that ride into adulthood.

Safety is important, but it has gone too far, effectively taking the responsibility out of the community’s hands. It’s an attitude that says “you can’t make these decisions for yourselves, so we will make them for you”.

Our children are growing up in a risk-averse society. How poorly this prepares them to take life’s daring leaps, face the unknown and come out the other side smiling.

March

Fence post marks start of big things

The drive to establish an open sanctuary in Shakespear Regional Park has gained community support from every quarter – and made strange bedfellows in the process. Among them are the Auckland Regional Council and Rodney District Council, who in recent years have been at loggerheads more often than not.

Deputy Mayor John Kirikiri acknowledged this point at the ceremony marking the start of fence construction, congratulating the ARC and saying that without them the fence may never have happened. It was in the spirit of the occasion that he acknowledged it was unusual for a Rodney District Councillor to praise the ARC, but said it was well deserved.

Other partners include the neighbouring NZ Defence Force, Ngati Whatua, local businesses and community groups. The project has drawn the community together in providing financial support, planning, planting, weeding and fund raising and their energetic efforts are now showing fruit. And with full community support will come benefits to all, once the open sanctuary is complete.

Visitors are expected to number in the thousands, as it is rare for a sanctuary to be as accessible to the public. With that will come spin offs for businesses. Native birds will increase throughout the region, together with an awareness of the need for conservation initiatives like the sanctuary. Flocks of the threatened native parrot, the kaka, now fly over Wellington suburbs, thanks to the open sanctuary in Karori. The species has made a comeback, to the extent that some residents find their fruit trees raided by the boisterous parrots.

One day Whangaparaoa residents may also have this problem. Let’s hope so. Hibiscus Matters will follow the fence construction every step of the way with updates each issue and online.

February

Heritage in our hands

The Hibiscus Coast community is about to have its values and resolve tested. The test comes with the proposal to demolish the second oldest building in the district, the Stoney Homestead in Silverdale North, which has been publicly notified.

It will also be a test of the protection afforded by Rodney’s District Plan, described by the Historic Places Trust as the strongest protection that can be given to a historic building.

Although the timber homestead and outbuildings are now in a derelict state, after around 20 years’ ownership by developers, during which time little was done to preserve them, they are certainly not beyond repair. Restoration costs have been estimated at $1 million, but it is possible with willing volunteer labour and expertise, it could be done for significantly less.

Money could be raised through a community trust with grants from institutions such as the Historic Places Trust a possibility. Descendants of the owners of the homestead still live locally and would be a wonderful resource as restoration proceeded. Examples of success stories in this vein include the Jane Gifford, now based at Warkworth, restored from a mere shell to its former glory largely through the efforts and fundraising of dedicated volunteers.

The developers say there is need for an urgent decision to be made on the future of the homestead, yet the community needs time to consider all its options. Our representatives on Rodney District Council must be looked to for strong leadership on this issue. If Council’s commissioners decline consent, a line will have been drawn in the sand. However, the ultimate decision will rest with Council.

It is interesting that among the voices of protest that have been raised so far, children have been prominent. A class at Silverdale School has taken a keen interest in the homestead, feeling a sense of ownership for it and its history. Their enthusiasm and willingness to look at all the possibilities for saving the homestead point to the fact that where there is a will, there is definitely also a way. The Hibiscus Coast has few historic buildings or sites – can we really afford to let what little we have slip through our hands so easily?