Sign In / Register
Auckland Council was unanimous when it voted to support a revised Regional Parks Management Plan at a Parks, Arts and Community and Events meeting on September 22.
Earlier this year, a review on park management proposed moving 21 of Auckland’s 28 parks into the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park. At the same time, the forum was shifting towards co-governance.
The proposal was swept into a host of discussions around democracy under co-governance and eventually, the move to shift the 21 parks to the Forum was dumped.
Cr John Watson, who raised alarm bells earlier in the year over co-governance in the proposal, said the regional parks brought Auckland’s diverse communities together.
“I am pleased to see policy 45 has been removed and now that it has been removed, perhaps we can release the legal opinion on that,” Watson said.
Cr Linda Cooper said co-governance was a big discussion happening both locally and nationally.
“We talk about (co-governance), that it is somewhere else. It is not actually in a particular place, but it is just in the ether at the moment. It is going on nationally … we just felt that was for another time because it was not just about this plan,” Cooper said.
“What I really love about this plan is that we got to hear what the community felt. You will find bits and pieces that were really important to different parts of our community in this plan.”
She said the plan was about working together with local communities, iwi and the wider Tāmaki Makaurau community.
Independent Māori Statutory Board member Glenn Wilcox said he had spent his summer visiting all 28 regional parks and came away with a unique experience in each.
“From Duder, I got the smell of the karaka. From Wenderholm, I saw the light that freckled through the pōhutukawa. From Te Muri, it was like a step back in time because the tide determines when and where you can go. Finally Awhitu, it was the camp spells and the korero that was going around in the campground that was drifting in the afternoon,” Wilcox said.
“It really brought home to me how much Aucklanders enjoy and need our regional parks.”
He said the regional parks were not just the lungs of Auckland or the place where people play but waterways in the parks gave sustenance to the city.
The management plan is intended to last for 10 years before its next comprehensive review under the Reserves Act.
Meanwhile, Hauraki Gulf Forum co-chairs Nicola MacDonald and Pippa Coom have welcomed the adoption of the Management Plan, which will see strengthened collaboration between Auckland’s regional parks and the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park.
“It is fantastic to see that the new plan includes clear policies supporting integrated management of land and sea, collaboration with the Forum, improved water quality, and advocacy for marine protection”, MacDonald said.
