My Account
High cost for stairs
Barry Luckman, Army Bay (abridged)
I read with concern in Hibiscus Matters, March 15 edition, that Auckland Council is to spend $490,000 repairing the stairs leading to the beach below Pacific Parade in Army Bay. It’s a pity that the Council didn’t get onto this earlier. Initially, it was a minor rockfall that came down on top of the stairs, breaking part of them. This could have been fixed without much fuss or expense, and the rest of the structure could have been saved. It has now deteriorated to a point that it’s a major problem to remedy. However, I accept that the stairs need to be reinstated, but am baffled to know how the figure of just under half a million dollars has been arrived at. It is intimated in the article that climate change is an increasing concern to such structures in coastal regions, and there’s no argument about that. However, a request to Council by several residents to have something done about the rabbit plague on the reserve front along the cliff-tops of Pacific Parade, drew a weak and ineffectual response. They might well find that it’s not climate change that will cause accelerated erosion along the cliff-top here, but rabbits burrowing into the fragile margins along the front of the reserve. No doubt if the stairs are anything to go by, they’ll leave the control of rabbits until it’s too late and ratepayers will end up with another horrendous bill.
Julie Pickering, Council’s head of area operations – community facilities, responds (abridged): The total cost for the replacement staircase at Army Bay is $315,000. The work is very specialised and a large amount of Geotech and structural engineering was required. A large proportion of the cost is to stabilise the cliff to prevent future landslides taking out the structure. The cost includes: project management, structural engineering, design work, contractors, consenting fees, the replacement staircase, a drape mesh for the rock fall and ecological services. Council controlled rabbits at Pacific Parade last year after receiving repeated requests from a resident. There was a rapid reinvasion immediately after the control as the rabbits are likely coming from surrounding private properties, where Council does not carry out control. Landowners are encouraged to control pests on their property. In urban residential areas, one option is using a low toxicity poison pindone in a bait station. This can be purchased over the counter and used without a licence as long as it is contained in an appropriate bait station.
Editor’s note: The good news is that the cost appears to have dropped! The estimated sum for the repair work on the stairs quoted in our March 15 paper, of $490,000, came from Councillor John Watson. He was given this figure several times on making enquiries. The same sum also appears in costings provided to Councillors at a Parks Arts Community & Events Committee workshop, held on March 3.
Duke of Ed vision lives
Gregory Pierce, Principal Ōrewa College
With the sad passing of the Duke of Edinburgh it is pertinent for us to acknowledge the impact that part of his legacy, the Duke of Edinburgh Award, has had for our students. The Award was founded by the Duke in 1956 and Ōrewa College became involved in 1976 under the leadership of teacher Drew Parsons with hundreds of students over the years being part of the programme ever since. In 2021, 120 Ōrewa College students are participating in the award, which ‘builds the skills, confidence and resilience that students need to support their communities and be ready for the world’. Thanks to the foresight of the Duke of Edinburgh we will continue to ensure that his vision for many young people continues to flourish at Ōrewa College.
Editor’s note: Almost all the other local colleges also run this programme for young people, apart from Kingsway College, which uses the Student Voluntary Army as an alternative.
RSA puts record straight
W. David Dryden, Hibiscus Coast Community RSA president. On behalf of the Executive Committee (abridged)
We wish to put the record straight with regard to the article “Resilient Anzac service needs community help” printed in HM dated 21 April. The Hibiscus Coast Community RSA did not “opt out” of the Ōrewa Remembrance Reserve service. In 2019 on the advice of the NZ Police and our National Office all RSA’s reviewed the number of services that were going to be held that year. Hibiscus Coast Community RSA decided to reduce the number from the five services that we had traditionally held, to one, in line with these recommendations. Two outlying services, Upper Waiwera and Ōrewa communities, decided to go against this advice and conduct their own services. Subsequently we heard that they would in the future continue to organise their own services – of course no one was allowed to have official services in 2020. As a result of the above decision by these two groups, the Hibiscus Coast Community RSA organised three services this year, which were successfully undertaken. We think in the interest of good journalism enquiries could have been made from the RSA to get a balanced view of the matter.
Editor’s note: Thank you for the clarification, and apologies for the error. The ‘opt out’ information came from a former Hibiscus Coast Community RSA member, Commander Frank Rands, who has been MC at the Hibiscus Coast Community RSA Anzac service in the past and, while on the committee, helped run its Anzac Day services. The paper considers him a reliable source but accepts that an error was made.
Shelterless bus stops
Eric Bennett, Red Beach
I would like to add to Peter Burn’s letter regarding bus shelters in Hibiscus Matters April 21. I have asked Auckland Council on many occasions for bus shelters or even seats at the Red Beach shops and opposite, without success. We are asked to get out of our cars and onto buses. I would like to do that more, although I would rather use the car than stand at the bus stop in either the blazing sun or the wind and rain. I note while driving my car through Kukuwai Avenue and Taikura Avenue that there are four unused bus shelters where no buses travel, maybe these bus shelters could be transferred to where they would be used and appreciated.
Bus shelter needed
Tony Cunningham, Army Bay
With reference to the excellent letter from Peter Burn published in this paper on April 21. My wife and I, both pensioners, would love to make use of the bus service and can easily walk from our house to the bus stop on Whangaparāoa Road, but then would have to wait, standing in the sun or rain, with nowhere to shelter or rest our legs. It is for this reason alone that we have stopped using the bus. As Mr Burn correctly says, “it should be a priority”.
