Media Releases
February 2002
28 February 2002
Marae decision
18 February 2002
Reserve sale rejected
18 February 2002
Council gives $25,000 to save Waiatarua land
15 February 2002
Glen Eden Library on move
13 February 2002
Local businessman reinstates town entrance sign
12 February 2002
Tui Glen submissions roll in
28 February 2002
Marae Decision
 The Waitakere City Council
decided that a marae should be incorporated into the "People's Park" in Te Atatu.
The marae will be approximately 100m from the North Western Motorway, and set within some 84 hectares of parkland (equivalent to around 96 full sized rugby fields).
Te Atatu has the highest proportion of Maori in Waitakere City and local residents have campaigned for some 30 years to have an urban marae in the area. Last year the Council decided that it would provide up to 2.5ha of land somewhere on the Te Atatu Peninsula and commissioned Port Glen Consultancy Ltd to identify possible sites.
That investigation found that the land bordered by the motorway and Te Atatu Rds, known as Harbourview, was the most suitable. Local reserves, such as Gloria Park, Kervil Park and Taipari Strand, were rejected mainly because of their proximity to houses and traffic and access issues.
The Council will now enter into negotiations with the Te Atatu Marae Coalition, which has promoted the proposal, to work through how the facility will integrate with the park as well as management and other legal issues.
Siting the marae on the Harbourview land has the backing of the Council's Maori liaison committee, Te Taumata Runanga (which is an umbrella group for Maori organisations throughout the City) as well as the local iwi.
Deputy mayor and chairperson of the Council's City Development committee, Carolynne Stone, is pleased that the issue has finally been decided.
"This should be looked at as a community facility just like any kindergarten, play-centre or scout den. We have taken the opportunity to incorporate a city-wide facility into a large park that is being developed for residents of the whole City."
"Architecturally the marae will add immensely to the site, but more importantly it is a facility able to be used and enjoyed by the whole Waitakere community."
The Marae Coalition - a charitable trust- says the facility will be used as a traditional meeting place, as well as an education and employment training base. It will also have a tourist focus.
Another councillor, Judy Lawley, is the chairperson of the advisory group that over the past six months has been working on plans for how the huge People's Park can be developed. That group represents a wide range of interests, from environmentalists to local residents.
Councillor Lawley says that the inclusion of a marae will see the People's Park become one of the most superb recreational areas in the entire Auckland region.
"It has been dubbed the People's Park (although that name is not confirmed), mainly because it was through the lobbying of a large number of residents that the land be developed as a leisure area. Now we have made an important step towards a "People's Marae" that fits with that concept."
Note: Development of the People's Park is being paid for by a special $9 a year levy on rates. None of that money will go towards development of the marae.
For more information contact us.
18 February 2002
Reserve sale rejected
The proposed sale of Whenuapai's Bill Moir Reserve has been rejected by Waitakere City Council's City Development Committee after receiving strong opposition from local residents.
The Council received almost 50 submissions from Whenuapai residents objecting to the proposed sale of the reserve
- the proceeds of which were to be used to pay for new reserve land at 43 Waimarie Rd (adjacent to the Whenuapai Hall).
Now, instead of being able to sell Bill Moir Reserve to pay for the Waimarie Rd land it bought last year, the Council is covering it with loans funding. Concept plans and options on how to integrate the Waimarie land with the existing hall reserve are now being prepared, and consulation with the local community over these options will be carried out in the near future.
When the Council undertook work around rationalisation of its neighbourhood park network, Bill Moir Reserve was identified as being a reserve that did not meet the needs of the Whenuapai community.
However, the majority of submittors favoured retaining Bill Moir Reserve and not proceeding with the land swap.
They said the reserve is regularly used by children and families and that it is safe because it is away from main road traffic and under the observation of 15 surrounding properties. They also objected to swapping the reserve for a smaller lot of land, especially since much of it was donated to the Council by the late Bill Moir for local use.
Committee chair, Cr Carolynne Stone, says the Council is looking forward to establishing a good consultative process with the Whenuapai community over the concept plans.
"It was a good, positive outcome and we'll work together to ensure that the community desires around those two reserves are met, bearing in mind the issues the Council is facing as far as its own financial commitments go, she says. "We will also make sure, in future, that the Council does communicate very clearly to communities if there are issues around divestment of parks, and that we ask first."
For more information contact us.
18 February 2002
Council gives $25,000 to save Waiatarua land
The Waitakere City Council has given major financial assistance to the Waitakere Ranges Protection Society
to help it preserve a significant plot of land in Waiatarua.
The Council made a $25,000 grant from its Waitemata Asset Acquisition Fund to assist the Society with the purchase of land at 71 Turanga Road, Waiatarua, which was in danger of being sold to a residential developer.
The land adjoins the Spragg Bush Reserve - a particularly fine example of high altitude kauri forest.
The Council also loaned the Society $17,000 for the purchase, with the interest to be paid from the Waitemata Asset Acquisition Fund. It will also be approaching the Auckland Regional Council for a financial contribution.
Council assistance with the purchase of additional land at 14 Turanga Road was referred to the 2002/2003 Annual Plan process. The land is believed to be the only privately owned section adjacent to Spragg Bush that still bears the original forest. Unlike No. 71, it has never been cleared.
WRPS life member, Dr Jessica Beever, told the Council's Finance and Operational Performance Committee that both pieces of land are of major ecological importance and act as both a buffer zone and a corridor for wildlife to other bush areas.
"Only about 5% of New Zealand's pre-European kauri forest remains. Amongst those remnants, Spragg Bush is particularly fine," she says.
"They (the sections at numbers 14 and 71) are both very fine pieces of forest in their own right, and to have them destroyed for housing would be a sad loss."
Dr Beever, who works as a research associate with Landcare Research, says the forest's large podocarps, miro, matai, rimu, kahikatea and rata provide essential food sources for the likes of kereru and tui. Its high altitude also makes it an ideal environment for small plant diversity, especially rare and endangered mosses and liverworts.
"Spragg Bush has an impressive list of biodiversity for such a small area," she says. "I recently had two scientists visiting from the United States, world experts in their specialist field of liverworts. They took
four and a half hours to do the short circuit around Spragg Bush and they were, to use the modern phrase, blown away."
Finance and Operational Performance Committee chairwoman, Cr Janet Clews, says the committee was convinced by Dr Beever's passion for, and long association with, the area. "The biodiversity of the Spragg Bush area is staggering," she says.
WRPS president, John Edgar, says the Society is very pleased that the Council has entered into such a "partnership" with it.
"It's a very generous offer from Council and it bodes very well for the future protection of the Waitakere Ranges," he says.
For more information:
15 February 2002
Glen Eden Library on move
Glen Eden Library is on the move from its current Glendale Road premises.
Yesterday, Waitakere City Council's Finance and Operational Performance Committee agreed to a short-term lease for a building in West Coast Road while it confirms a site for a new library. The lease negotiations are expected to be complete within days.
The Glen Eden Library has been situated on Glendale Road since 1974, but its lease expires on March 31. The temporary West Coast Road library will be less than 200m from the present site.
Committee Chair and former Glen Eden Mayor, Cr Janet Clews, says she is delighted that any uncertainty that local residents may have been feeling can now be allayed.
"The Council is 100% committed to building a new library in the Glen Eden town centre within the next three years - and we are also committed to ensuring continuity of service in the intervening period," she says.
"We had been looking at the possibility of a joint development of a library and medical centre with a group of local doctors, but we felt it would be unfair to delay their plans while we worked through the issues associated with that option.
"I must stress that the doctors have gone out of their way to accommodate the library in their plans. The decision to shift was entirely the Council's."
The Committee also resolved to assist with the development of the medical centre through the provision of a key account manager and any other assistance possible, recognising the separation of Council's facilitation and regulatory roles.
Work on finalising options for a long-term site for the library will be reported in May 2002.
13 February 2002
Local businessman reinstates town entrance sign
 A love for the Henderson area has spurred a local businessman to rebuild a mosaic tile sign at the town's entrance.
Ross Harvey has donated the funds to rebuild the colourful entranceway sign on the corner of Great North Rd and Vitasovich Ave - which was erected in 1994 by Henderson District's 150th Celebrations Committee and vandalised a year later.
"I've driven past it for years saying someone has to do something about it," says Mr Harvey. "It was an eyesore, yet the matching sign at the other end of the town always looked so attractive, so I decided we should do something about restoring it."
The Council put Mr Harvey in touch with artist Jan Morrison, who had created the original sign. Ms Morrison had kept a copy of her design, which features kowhai, a grapevine and tui, and was able to recreate it.
Mr Harvey, who inset a new mounting board in the rock wall for the tiles to be glued on, says the family was happy to pay for the entranceway to be reinstated.
Born and raised in Ranui, Mr Harvey says his family has had a long association with the Henderson area. His late father Bill owned Harveys Hardware on the main street in the 1950s and was a founding member of the Henderson Business Association. The family still has strong business links with the area.
"Henderson has been good to us - and this is a way of putting something back into the community," he says. "I just hope that, this time, the sign stays undisturbed."
Councillor Brenda Brady, who also sat on the 150th celebrations committee, praises Mr Harvey's "great community spirit".'
"It is wonderful to see Ross Harvey, with his long-time family involvement in the Henderson community, donate the funds for the replacement of the entry statement," she says. "It's a very generous and community-minded thing to have done."
The Council has agreed to take over responsibility for the maintenance of Henderson's two entranceway signs.
For more information contact us.
12 February 2002
Tui Glen submissions roll in
More than 130 submissions have already been sent to the Waitakere City Council on the future of the Tui Glen Reserve.
The submission process is part of the Council's legal obligation to prepare a reserve management plan for the Henderson Creek Corridor for which Tui Glen is an integral part.
Options for future use of the reserve may include a holiday camping ground for short-term stay, community facilities (such as a scout den, crèche or community hall) and park facilities (such as barbecues, seats, playgrounds, petanque courts, paths and gardens).
Tui Glen was the first registered camping ground and picnic area in New Zealand. In recent years it was leased to a commercial camp operator and the Council took over management of the site earlier this year.
Once public submissions close, on February 28, a summary report will be presented to the Council, which outlines a range of options to be further investigated.
The Council will then decide what to include in its development proposal for the Draft Henderson Creek Reserves Management Plan. The draft plan will then be publicly notified for further submissions, and hearings held with both the Henderson and Massey community boards, prior to adoption of the plan.
Meanwhile, preliminary submissions are also being invited for the preparation of an Open Space Management Plan for the Harbourview land in Te Atatu (also known as the People's Park).
The park will contribute to a network of paths and trails around the entire Te Atatu Peninsula, giving people access to the Waitemata Harbour coastline. Residents are invited to submit suggestions on how the park should be developed and managed.
Preliminary submissions for Harbourview close on April 26.
For more information contact us.
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