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River water quality
I was interested to read of the proposed development in the vicinity of Valerie Close, south of Warkworth (MM Feb 13). The plan entails a very large and intensive housing development, the western boundary of which is immediately adjacent to the Mahurangi River, and the whole development is within the river’s catchment. The proposers will need to provide very compelling evidence that the 1600 or so dwellings planned for the site will not compromise water quality in Mahurangi River, in order to convince Auckland Council to grant the required plan change.
The article comments on the developers’ plans to protect the river. The first-mentioned component of their river protection measures is “The retirement of farmland and a former vineyard … will reduce nutrients and sedimentation entering the local stream network”. A nice sentiment but with respect, a bit of PR puffery and somewhat misleading – some might call it misinformation.
Ransom Wines planted the vineyard referred to in 1993 and managed it until its retirement about five years ago. During this whole period I can confirm that no fertilisers were applied or any other materials that would leach pollutants into the river. All vine prunings and grape stems and skins from processing in the winery were composted. The winery wastewater system was designed and constructed to the standards required, and this involved the placement of a water dispersal field in the vineyard 50 metres from the nearest watercourse at its closest point.
The system was consented and regularly inspected, initially by the ARC then its successor, Auckland Council. The entirety of the vineyard drained directly into a wetland area on the existing Endean farm, and the wetland provided a 200-metre or so buffer between the vineyard boundary and the nearest stream. The pastoral land surrounding the vineyard was not heavily stocked in all the years we were there so I would surmise that any nutrients from cattle effluent entering the local watercourses and the river would have been minimal.
The developers say they will provide “… a treatment train approach for stormwater …” and “… on-site retention and detention …” of stormwater. It would be interesting to know exactly what these terms mean.
Regardless of that, it is obvious that the potential for stormwater from 1600 dwellings to enter and contaminate the Mahurangi River will be a considerably bigger challenge for the river than it has coped with from surrounding farmland in the past.
Robin Ransom, Point Wells
Resignation call ridiculous
I feel compelled to respond to what I consider an inappropriate letter in the Mahurangi Matters January 16 issue. I refer to the letter accusing two Local Board members of cowardice in abstaining from voting on the naming of the Matakana link road and insisting that they should resign immediately.
I do not know who chose to abstain in a matter of little consequence as the name for the Matakana link road (Te Honohono ki Tai) will never be used because very few people will be able to pronounce it correctly, and even fewer understand its meaning. The road will always be known as the Matakana link road or for short, link road, which is exactly what it is. The given name will not appear on any road map as it is too long to fit on a two-and-a-half-kilometre road. To visitors, especially from other countries where English is not spoken, it will be most confusing.
It is the right of all elected people to any board, committee or council to vote for or against any resolution. It is also their democratic right to abstain. This right has nothing to do with courage or cowardice. There could be any number of reasons for them to have made this decision and I have no doubt their decision was the result of much thought. They could have considered it a fait accompli, as it had already been announced by unelected personnel without any input from the community.
For over 70 years, I have served on many committees, boards and councils, starting in my teens as secretary of the local cricket club, so I think I have some knowledge in this field.
The demand that these two Board members should resign immediately is ridiculous. This is but one issue, with hundreds more to follow in the next three years. Generally, those seeking election to public office are honest hard-working citizens seeking to serve and represent all of us. This letter may have been the result of frustration due to the normal democratic process not being followed in the naming of a road.
What should have happened in this situation is that the name of the road should have been submitted to the Local Board as a proposal, not as a fact. The Board would have sought public input and possibly called for other suggestions.
What happened was a few people claiming to represent local iwi decided that the name would be Te Honohono ki Tai and publicly announced that this would be the name. There was no consultation. They placed the Board in an invidious situation of having to rubber-stamp their decision or reject it and cause offence to the few. We do not elect a Board to rubber-stamp decisions made by a few unelected people, whatever their race.
Over recent years, there has been growing resentment because Maori culture has become more preeminent at the expense of all other cultures. People feel that this is being forced on them. We are a nation of many cultures, each contributing much to the enrichment of our nation. Every culture should respect others. If this resentment continues to grow, it will result in division between cultures. The old true saying, “United we stand, divided we fall” still rings true. The keystone for harmony is our universally accepted principles of democracy. In this instance, democracy was a casualty.
Gordon Levet, Wellsford
Communication failures
The two recent flood disasters endured by Northland/Auckland, along with the more widespread catastrophic events affecting half the rest of the nation, underscores the importance of the place radio still has as the most practical go-to medium in the armamentarium of current communications.
It has plainly stood out in the recent calamities as the strongest and most versatile, if least ‘sexy’, means of quickly spreading vital information to the widest population compared to its more technologically glamorous peers like apps, wifi and internet. These other cultures have so outstandingly failed to helpfully connect us in the face of recent terrestrial surface events.
This brings me to the recurring chestnut of Warkworth and its environs suffering perpetually, offensively, and seemingly irremediably, from a lamentable paucity of radio lucency due to fade, distortion, interference or inadequate broadcasting processes, for local citizens.
The latest climatic problems ‘weathered’ by our mature, relatively prosperous, infrastructurally compromised, naturally well-endowed and burgeoning population-threatened locality, have again highlighted this long-term radio inadequacy and, needless to say, at two particularly crucial, life-threatening times just recently.
What will it take to galvanise the powers-that-be to give Warkworth the radio quality the rest of New Zealand enjoys, not to mention most of the rest of the civilised and uncivilised world, which it has taken for granted for most of the last three-quarters of a century?
Gerald Turnbull, Warkworth
Machiavellian genius
Once again, I feel compelled to applaud the genius, albeit in this case the Machiavellian genius, of Auckland Transport (AT) (see story here).
First a little background. Ahuroa Road, which runs from West Coast Road through Puhoi to State Highway 1, has in the past been subject to an expectation gap between residents and AT. The locals wanted something vaguely smooth to drive on and AT wanted to go with a more “lumpy” aesthetic.
This led to AT having to waste a lot of time and energy coming up with reasons why they couldn’t maintain the road. Obviously, this has been very taxing and distressing for AT. I know from my time at school that coming up with excuses for why a thing has not been done is very energy intensive. Mind you, as an aside, an ability to make excuses has served me well in my marriage.
Now let me explain AT’s new genius plan. Part of Ahuroa Road was damaged in the weather event of January 27 and is now closed. Ironically, it is the section of the road that was sealed. An organisation less cunning than AT would have made extensive efforts to communicate the issue, the plan and would have provided regular updates with effective signage. Instead, AT has kept quiet, except to tell off the industrious locals who moved their cones, then their concrete blocks and then their shipping container.
It is a beautiful case of Stockholm Syndrome. For those that don’t know, this is the Google definition: Stockholm Syndrome describes the psychological condition of a victim who identifies with and empathises with their captor or abuser and their goals.
You see, in six months, a year or longer when AT finally scrapes together some form of re-opening, I am going to drive over the potholes with a song in my heart and nothing but love and gratitude for AT. In fact, I’ll probably never moan about a pothole again.
S Gonzales, Ahuroa
RSA gun misfire
The gun pictured on page 29 of your wonderful Mahurangi Matters newspaper dated January 30 is not a Bofors gun. It is, in fact, an Oerlikon gun of 20mm calibre, operated by one man, made in Switzerland. The Bofors gun is 40mm on a three-man mounting, made in Sweden. Both guns date from the 1930s and were used by both sides in World War II. Both guns were fitted to Royal NZ Navy vessels from the 1930s through to the 1990s. Once they were removed from service, they were offered to RSAs for permanent display. They were indeed anti-aircraft weapons but were also used for close-range surface action.
Denis Henderson, ex-Navy weapon engineer
