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A group of around 10 people came to offer their views to the Hibiscus & Bays Local Board on Council’s 2016/17 budget, as well as comment on the board’s priorities for the year, at the only local Have Your Say event, held on February 23 in Orewa.
Council has changed the format for its Have Your Say events with the aim of making them “more accessible”.
Although the atmosphere was welcoming and relatively informal, the board members and Councillors, including Orakei Cr Cameron Brewer, and Council’s corporate finance and property general manager Kevin Ramsay sat around the council table, a video was shown, and people aired their views by way of presentations.
Local board priorities
The Hibiscus & Bays Local Board plans to invest $6.7 million in 2016/17 to renew and develop assets and $13.3 million to maintain and operate these assets and provide other local initiatives.
Among the big ticket items are getting Stoney Homestead in Millwater up and running as a community facility ($550,000). The target for this is around June or July.
Sport and recreation is one of the board’s key areas of responsibility and gets a big slice of the pie with a total of $2.4 million to be spent on sports field upgrades, including a sand carpet at Red Beach Reserve. The Stanmore Bay Leisure Centre extension work is also underway and there are plans for a shared walk/cycleway at Metropark East and work on Metropark West. There are plans to extend the popular walk and cycleway Te Ara Tahuna further into Millwater reserves and on to Silverdale.
In a move that local board chair Julia Parfitt describes as “jumping the gun just a little bit,” the board will begin the process of enhancing the land along the Weiti River, at 36 Hibiscus Coast Highway, in preparation for use as a reserve. The land is currently in the hands of CCO Panuku Development Auckland and was earmarked for sale.
However Mrs Parfitt says the board believes it was originally acquired for reserve purposes and it is negotiating with the CCO to keep the land for public use.
The board is also looking at “creative ways” to maintain former maintenance standards in parks and public gardens, by involving the community and groups such as Youth Connections.
The board is also lobbying Auckland Council to secure funding for Orewa Beach seawall work, which it says should be among the city’s top priorities. It will also look to implement key elements of the Silverdale and Orewa Town Centre Plans which were consulted on last year.
Consultation on Auckland Council’s 2016/17 budget opened on February 15 and closes on March 24, at 4pm. Info: shapeauckland.co.nz and at libraries and Orewa Service Centres in Centreway Road.
