Viewpoint – Coast concerns

A few months ago I was appointed to a steering group which included the Hibiscus & Bays Local Board chair Alexis Popplebaum, Upper Harbour Local Board chair Anna Atkinson and deputy chair Uzra Casuri Balouch to come up with a plan to save the demolition of the North Harbour Stadium. 

An extra working group was set up by the steering group and tasked with developing this plan, with a progress documentation and report to the Governing Body and the Mayor to be completed last month. This was done successfully on August 29 and now the steering group will focus on assessing the operational management options and implementing a two-stage process to enhance the stadium’s community and commercial value. Ongoing discussions with Tataki Auckland Unlimited and a detailed Expression of Interest process are planned to secure a new operator by the end of the fiscal year. Our main mission is to keep the North Harbour Stadium and Domain Precinct as is, exploring new management models starting next July, and evaluating ownership, funding, governance, and improvements by December 2026. 

We received a great result from our presentation with support from the Governing Body for the future planning and it highlighted the importance of local collaboration. With the announcement of significant delays to early 2028 with the Penlink bridge, I find it unbelievable that the due diligence was not done correctly at the time of tendering for the new design and build of this type of bridge. You would think that all the ground, geo tech, so called innovative design of the bridge that the unique specifications had been taken into account. We will have to wait to see what ramifications there are for this potentially expensive misjudgement.There has been talk about changes to the central Auckland ward boundaries so that they match the proposed local board boundary changes while still following the ‘fairness of representation’ rule. One of the ideas that I’m very supportive of there is changes to some local board boundaries, especially for the Hibiscus Coast to include Ara Hills and Milldale subdivisions. 

Often you will hear advertising inviting people to move to these new subdivisions and enjoy the amenities of Ōrewa. However, the Hibiscus & Bays Local Board area does not receive the rates from those residents as they are currently outside our boundary. Let’s hope that there will be some research done to see if it’s viable to change those boundaries. There are plenty of local projects underway or about to start. They include Ōrewa Beach seawall, 86 Harvest Ave, Ōrewa new neighbourhood park, Ōrewa Library comprehensive refurbishment and renewing the playground at Edith Hopper Park. I know that these projects will benefit our community greatly making the Hibiscus Coast a greater place to live.