Community facility provision again a hot topic

The need for more community facilities (such as pools and courts) in the wider Hibiscus Coast region, as its population grows, remains contentious.

At its May 16 workshop, the Hibiscus & Bays Local Board again raised concerns with a report presented by Auckland Council staff that investigated the need for more community facilities. The report concluded, again, that no additional facilities are needed, despite the growth in the Wainui, Milldale, Millwater and Silverdale areas.

Dairy Flat, also an area where enormous growth is set to occur, was not included in the scope of the report.

The report revisited the one rejected by both Hibiscus & Bays and Rodney Local Boards last year. However, this time around, its conclusions were unchanged including suggesting the public use of school pools and courts as options.

Once again, local board members –including Rodney Local Board chair Brent Bailey and member Louise Johnston (who attended the Hibiscus & Bays workshop) questioned the population estimates that the report was based on.

Member Julia Parfitt said that the Stanmore Bay Pool & Leisure Centre is already at capacity and serving a huge catchment and several members raised how impractical it is to expect school facilities to meet the shortfall.

Parfitt pointed out that a change in the rules 3-4 years ago means that development contributions can now be levied to pay for new community facilities and asked why that is not being applied in this region.

However, in presenting the report to the workshop, Council’s community investment policy advisor, Katie Kim, said no developments in north Auckland were levied in that way – something Parfitt called “very short sighted”.

Bailey said urban sprawl has been foisted on the outskirts of the city but there is a failure to plan for deficits in community facilities.

Johnston said that if no more public facilities are provided, the communities in established areas would be well served, while newly developed areas will fall short and be “the poor cousins”.

“At the moment, we have the worst of all worlds,” Parfitt said. “We are being expected to meet the needs of more and more people with only our existing facilities. That will create some real issues, and quite soon. We either need an expansion of those facilities, or new ones built if we are to cope.” w Backstories www.localmatters.co.nz

The report will be brought to a local board business meeting where members will provide official feedback on it.

November 4, 2020, November 8, 2021, May 2, 2022

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CCO transparency questioned

By Laura Kvigstad, Auckland Council reporter. Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.

Lead councillor for Auckland Council’s property arm, Eke Panuku, is calling for the organisation to be transparent, voicing his concerns that meetings are leaving the public in the dark.

At the Council Controlled Organisation (CCO) Oversight and Delivery committee on May 11, Cr Chris Darby said clashes with council business meant he had not been able to attend a single meeting for Eke Panuku (or Ports of Auckland).

The role of a lead councillor is to sit on the board meetings of CCOs and provide feedback to the committee with updates.

Cr Darby’s inability to attend meant that he found the transparency of Eke Panuku to be lacking.

“I have written formally to the Eke Panuku chair requesting greater transparency regarding the board reports, and moving as much of the board material as possible to open record,” Cr Darby said. He said the board meetings need to be publicly advertised and electronically available.

CCO Governance & External Partnerships

Maps cause consternation

manager, Alastair Cameron, told the meeting it was an enduring expectation that CCOs be transparent.

“If what the CCOs are doing in practice does not meet those expectations we will have the opportunity to have the discussion directly with board chairs when they attend this committee,” Cameron said.

Committee chair, Cr Wayne Walker, said there is an expectation that CCOs should be transparent.

“A number of them are not at all transparent; most of the business is behind closed doors even while significant amounts could be public,” Cr Walker said.

CCOs have varying levels of accessibility to the public. Watercare allows for online attendance by request and gives a guide online for attending board meetings in person.

Auckland Transport’s board meetings have previously been recorded and put online, however none have been uploaded this year.

Tātaki Auckland Unlimited allows for public attendance of board meetings by registration but has no online recordings of the meetings.

Eke Panuku, however, gives no information about how the public can attend its meetings and they are not available online.

Auckland Councillors got their Nexus in a knot while trying to discuss the city’s future development strategy at a Planning, Environment and Parks Committee meeting on May 4. Albany Ward Cr Wayne Walker claimed the maps in the document were unreadable. He asked staff to describe the areas, because he was unable to see them on council’s digital platform, Nexus. Committee chair, Cr Richard Hills, said that the maps were sent in a pdf document a week prior and were legible. Cr Maurice Williamson said the pdf was 60 pages and he finally found the maps on page 54, down the very bottom. He said he did not understand why Nexus was unable to show quality maps. Cr Hills said Nexus was probably a very expensive programme and to get it to the level needed would probably be expensive, at a time when everyone is asking for spending cuts.

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