Viewpoint – Building the Coast 

As we wrap up one financial year and head into the next, it’s important to take a moment to celebrate the achievements of the 2024/2025 year.

The Hibiscus and Bays Local Board invested in a comprehensive refurbishment of the Ōrewa Library, which is now an enhanced facility able to meet the needs of our growing community. Stanmore Bay Leisure Centre also received new basketball court flooring. These are important and popular local assets, which we are committed to keeping functional and well used by our community.

The local board also developed a beautiful new playground in Harvest Avenue, Ōrewa and renewed the playground at Edith Hopper Park, Manly.

We responded to the community’s feedback about what they wanted us to concentrate on, which is to prioritise work and advocacy that will protect the Hauraki Gulf, fresh water and soil from contaminants and sedimentation. We funded further efforts to monitor and enforce construction waste, which is the single biggest contributor to landfills in Auckland. By working with builders and developers, we are improving site practices and achieving better compliance. 

We also continued to support on-the-ground storm resilience work and work with homeowners who have streams running through their properties to clean up and stabilise the banks with native plants. We are building on this to improve the flow and capacity of streams during big rainfall events. 

Another area that people asked us to invest in and support is our young people. We helped the Hibiscus Youth Hub improve their building and provided scholarships to community-minded Year 13 school leavers. This year, we trialled a new programme, Tamariki Voices, to involve young people in our decision-making. Students from three schools learnt about democracy and participation and co-designed a play trail for Mairangi Bay. We will be running this programme again this financial year on the Hibiscus Coast where our young people will contribute to another local project.

Looking ahead to 2025/2026, I’m excited to continue a lot of this great work and pick up a few new projects too. 

Last year, Auckland Transport announced it was going to stop funding bicycle skills training in schools. We are pleased to fill the gap by continuing with this programme. Another new programme is ‘Zero Waste Zero Carbon’, which will work with five schools to support a whole-school system change around waste, as well as enhance soil quality for food growing, and carbon sequestration. 

Other projects underway include a seawall renewal at Arkles Bay, a renewed wharf at Wade River Road Reserve, planning for Kawerau Metro Park West, landslip remediation for Fairhaven Walk and Pacific Parade, and a renewal of the Gilshennan Reserve play space and footpaths.

Recently, we met with staff from Paremoremo Prison and we are excited about starting a relationship with them to help deliver cost-effective native plants and hand-made park furniture.