Viewpoint – Works progress across Coast

With the shortest day fast approaching, I hope people are getting through the cooler weather okay. Certainly the winter sports’ codes around the Coast have got off to a flying start. The pristine playing surfaces in Ōrewa,  Whangaparāoa and Millwater are a far cry from the mud-laden fields of yesteryear that older residents may recall from their own sporting careers. 

Also encouraging has been the advancement recently of a number of significant works; the Ōrewa sea wall, library upgrade and the flood recovery programme, which in itself has seen more than $40 million spent on a series of repair projects around the ward over the past two years. 

Also noteworthy has been the resurgence of North Harbour Stadium, which only last year some notables within council were seeking to demolish. It has been humming along with Moana Pasifika Super Rugby home games and A-League highflyers Auckland FC based there for their training headquarters. Both franchises are very pleased to have such a first-class venue at their disposal (as indeed will the entire northern region as more sporting and entertainment events are attracted back to the stadium after years of neglect from those wanting to bulldoze this invaluable public asset and sell off the land).

And talking of land transformation, the latest video flyover of the Coast’s largest infrastructure project, O Mahurangi/Penlink, shows the striking extent of  works being undertaken including evolving bridge construction, interchanges and major work stations peppered along the 7km route. Certainly well worth a look on YouTube. 

Not quite so impressive was the annual council budget recently, which continued the same old trajectory of rate, borrow and sell; all three currently at record levels despite a warning from the Office of the Auditor-General that “…councils are increasing rates at historically high levels (and) their debt to some of the highest levels in decades… These factors create risks to councils’ long-term financial sustainability…”

It’s hard to disagree with the Auditor-General’s salutary caution, the question of ‘financial sustainability’ applying not just to the organisations themselves, of course, but also to the residents who fund them, especially those on fixed incomes.

The ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ at Auckland Council, however, shows no sign of slowing with most of the council cavalry still charging obediently towards the impending calamity, ‘theirs not to reason why’ as in the memorable lines of Alfred Tennyson’s famous poem. 

Perhaps participation in one of the Coast’s  mid-winter swims should be made mandatory prior to the next budget vote. Maybe then there might be a cooler and more considered analysis of the true extent of the untenable trifecta referenced earlier and its implications for the future.