localmatters.co.nz
September 3, 2014
Gateway funding ignores super city’s main gateway The super city’s northern gateway at Te Hana may miss out on funding allocated to develop gateway features in Rodney. Rodney Local Board has a $214,000 budget to fund “welcome to …” features, but Te Hana has been overlooked because no community group is driving the project. Kaukapakapa has already received $25,000 for a gateway feature, while Helensville, Parakai, Kumeu, Huapai and Riverhead are next in line. Wellsford, Warkworth Puhoi, Kawau Island, Omaha Beach and Shelly Beach are also in the pipeline, but Te Hana is currently not on a priority list. Auckland Council principal planner Andrew Trevelyan told the Board last month that the projects were being driven by the community, with groups presenting plans and designs for funding. But no group in Te Hana had developed a plan so the town could not receive funding at this stage, he said. However, member John McLean believed Te Hana should be a priority for funding and more needed to be done to progress the initiative. “They may not be a coherent group but it is a very important tourist gateway in the north,” John said. “I’m sure if we spent more time with that community, there would be someone who would take up the cause.” But member Thomas Grace said the Board shouldn’t fund gateway features. “Auckland Council is screaming they are broke and we are encouraging people to spend almost a quarter of a million dollars on signs. We are saying ‘get your heads together and see what you can blow it on’. Why not spend it on a bit of tar sealed road? “If the Kumeu community want a gateway feature, they would get it done at a fraction of the cost. It is part of the Business Improvement District drive and I’m not for it.”
Mahurangi Matters
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Viewpoint Penny Webster, Rodney Councillor, Auckland Council penny.webster@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
The axe is not falling
Wellsford town signage featuring corrugated iron rural animals.
“Gateways are unnecessary for some towns. Why does Kawau Island need further signage? You know when you are going to Kawau.” However, member Phelan Pirrie said the project would pay for itself. “We are trying to attract people to the area and grow the economy. At the moment, towns are not themed and there’s no particular way of differentiating them, but they all have things that make them unique which could be a selling point. We are putting in a little bit of money to create a theme that will help them economically. It’s peanuts.” Deputy chair Steven Garner said Matakana had no problem attracting tourists without a gateway feature, but Phelan said Matakana had $400,000 toilets, which did the job. The Board will approach Council to enter a partnership to fund a gateway entrance to Te Hana, as the northern entrance to the Super City. A Council staff member will be based in Wellsford and Te Hana to help develop initiatives in the region, which could include the gateway project. However, John remained sceptical. “If we leave it to a regional force, it’s never going to happen.”
Representing Rodney in Auckland, both as your ward councillor and chair of the Finance and Performance Committee, is an honour and a privilege. It gives me an ability to provide a strong voice for Rodney at the head of the Council table plus ensuring the financial management of Auckland Council as a whole is under control while we continue to invest in our future. It also means that I can tell you that some of the scaremongering in the press lately is without foundation. To suggest, as happened in the last issue (Viewpoint, MM August 13) that “the axe is being lowered and Rodney is getting cut out” as part of the current 11-month Long Term Plan process, is nonsense. Rodney’s rate increases on average are among the lowest in Auckland especially for farms and townships. I acknowledge that coastal properties, because of their capital value, are an issue. However, we are hoping to address that. For businesses, rates will fall on average as there is a gradual reduction in their differential. Under the Auckland legislation, the Mayor presents his proposal for the Long Term Plan, setting the Council direction for spending priorities over the next decade. The detail of that budget will not be known until it has been debated and discussed with all Aucklanders over the coming months. The Council will continue to balance its budget. Average rates increases will continue to stay low and around the rate of inflation. The Council is in great financial shape and will stay that way. Only 12 per cent of our income goes to debt. Compare that to your average family mortgage and we have investors clamouring to be part of the growing city. The Council continues to invest around $3 billion a year across Auckland, including Rodney. The CCO Watercare has spent over $65 million in Rodney in the past three years upgrading plants and getting them to compliant standard. We have suffered from under investment for decades – that had to stop. We can’t do everything, but what we are doing is making sure your money stretches further. And we will not cut essential services in Rodney. I know there is stuff we can do better in this part of Auckland. I continue to advocate that we must deliver better services. It is not easy but one thing is for sure – the axe is not falling and Rodney is not being cut out.
Local alcohol policy hearings begin Hearings on when, where and how alcohol should be sold across the region have begun. The Auckland Council received 2688 written submissions on the draft Local Alcohol Policy (LAP), with more than 400 requesting to speak. Wellsford was identified as a priority area in the draft policy. Priority areas apply to places with a high level of alcohol related crime and/or a large number of liquor outlets. The draft policy proposes a two-year freeze on off-licenses in the area. It comes after the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 gave councils
the ability to develop LAPs. The Auckland Council draft LAP aims to balance the social impacts of alcohol with Aucklanders being able to enjoy a drink responsibly. The hearings panel is chaired by Cr Bill Cashmore. During public deliberations in September, the panel will consider the submissions and make recommendations to council, which will adopt the provisional policy in October or November this year. It is then open to appeals from submitters on the draft policy and depending on how long that process takes, the final LAP is not expected to be in place until 2015.
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