Media Releases

June 2006

30 June

Transit NZ brings good news to Waitakere

Transit NZ’s State Highway Forecast means good news for Waitakere City with the Hobsonville Deviation being brought forward to 2006/07.

Construction on the deviation was to have started on the State Highway 18 Hobsonville Deviation in 2008/09, but now Transit has advised that earthworks and storm water pond construction will happen in 2006/07.

The project will also include detailed design of the highway. Construction of the deviation is expected to start in October 2007 and may take over four years depending on the weather with a projected completion date of 2011/12.

“It is great news that Transit NZ will make a start on this project in 2006/07. It is encouraging that Transit has responded to our residents’ concerns,” says Councillor Penny Hulse.

“Bringing forward the starting date means that there is an end in sight to the congestion that is currently the bane of commuting motorists along Hobsonville Road. It also provides certainty for the proposed developments at Hobsonville airbase and Westgate,” she says.

Construction of the Northwestern Motorway ramp signalling has been brought forward by one year to 2006/07.

“We are aware that Transit needs to learn from its ramp signalling experiences on the Southern Motorway before rolling this out here,” says Councillor Hulse.

There is also encouraging news about the upgrades of the Te Atatu and Lincoln interchanges.

“We understand that consideration will be given to the upgrade of Te Atatu Interchange and Lincoln Interchanges during the investigation of the Waterview to Te Atatu eight-lane project and Te Atatu to Royal six-lane project. The investigation is due to start next month,” says Councillor Hulse.

“This is significantly better than previous years' forecasts and gives us the opportunity to work with Transit to demonstrate the extent of the problem. Once the investigation confirms this, we can lobby for advancing this project,”

The westbound off-ramp upgrade at Te Atatu is still in the second five years of the plan.

“The overall message from Transit is that it is targeting congestion and considers Western Ring Route as a national high priority. Transit has proposed to toll the whole of the Western Ring Route to enable completion in 2015. Residents have already raised a number of concerns about the toll and possible effects on local roads. We are waiting to hear details from Transit of its proposed toll scheme.“

30 June

Deadline for comment extended

The deadline for public comments on a proposed change to Waitakere City Council’s district plan has been extended.

The draft change includes a new “Whenuapai Airport Special Area” within the District Plan, which could enable the existing Whenuapai Airforce Base to be used for commercial flights.

Submissions closed earlier this week, but after requests from many submitters the Council has agreed to push the consultation period out a further a 2 weeks.

Comments will now be received up until July 12 (5pm).

Some 300 comments on the draft plan change have been received so far.

Vanessa Neeson, chairman of the Council’s Planning and Regulatory Committee says the extension is to enable views to be canvassed as widely as possible.

“We want people to have as much opportunity as possible to have their say. A two week extension doesn’t affect our (the Council’s) timeline at all and it means people have more of a chance to be heard,” she says.

People will have yet another opportunity to make formal submissions when the plan change is publicly notified under the Resource Management Act, in late August.

For that phase of consultation the Council has also decided to canvas views for a longer period than it is legally required to. Rather than the minimum 4 week submission period, people will have 8 weeks in which to make their views known.

“We know this is a very emotional issue, especially for those living close to the Base, and we want to hear from each and every one of them,” says Councillor Neeson.

Any change to the District Plan, if agreed, does not necessarily mean that Whenuapai will become an airport.

“It just creates a planning structure to enable that sort of activity if that is what is decided in the future,” says Councillor Neeson.

29 June

Lifetime of dedication acknowledged

Mayor Bob Harvey presents Graeme Murdoch with a citation for his dedication to historical research out west.

A historian, teacher and community worker were honoured with mayoral citations at last night’s council meeting.

All three were thanked for their lifetimes’ work in their fields by Mayor Bob Harvey.

“These special people and their dedication are the reason our community is alive and well. Mayoral citations are but a small token of the council’s appreciation for the extraordinary work they do,” says Mayor Harvey.

Karel Witten-Hannah received his citation for a lifetime of teaching excellence at Massey High School.

Graeme Murdoch, an ARC employee for nearly 25 years, received a citation for his research of Waitakere’s history and strong relationships with councils and the Maori community.

Tere Tuakana-Kapi received a citation for his commitment to his local community of Glen Eden.

29 June

Eastern European immigration project receives grant

The Eastern European immigration to West Auckland in the early 20th century will be documented through interviews and photography thanks to a $1,500 grant from the Creative Communities allocation scheme.

Grants for 19 applicants totalling $42,413.00 were approved at Council’s meeting last night. Due to the relatively low number of applications this round, most recipients were granted close to what they asked for.

Chairman of the Creative Communities Scheme Allocation subcommittee, Councillor Judy Lawley, says the recipients are as diverse as Waitakere City’s many cultures.

“An a cappella group needing funding for a regional competition, a promotion event for struggling artists and a local music festival are just some of the projects that have received funding from this round of grants.

The stories of the Eastern European communities are of particular significance because their immigration to New Zealand has until now been largely un-documented,” she says.

Grant recipient Anabelle Lewis will work alongside local artist Allie Eagle, who is creating a 7m long artwork for the new Civic Centre that captures the essence of the immigration to West Auckland.

“I like my photographs to communicate something about human nature, about people’s struggles and joys.

The opportunity to work alongside Allie Eagle and her studio team as they produce a major work on the Eastern European communities gives me the chance to record in photos and interviews the stories of these people,” says Ms Lewis.

29 June

Council services now at three libraries city-wide

A number of council services will be available at three local libraries from July 1.

Payment of land and water rates and dog registrations can be paid by cheque and eftpos at New Lynn, Massey and Glen Eden libraries.

Cash payments for any of the above can be made at any ANZ bank or the Council’s Civic Centre at 6 Waipareira Ave, Henderson (6 Henderson Valley Road from 24 July).

Residents can also request LIM reports and other general Council enquiries seven days a week.

29 June

Lights, Camera....Action for $7 Million Studio Space

Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey: “This new studio and sound stage will be as good as anything in the world.”

The country’s largest film studio and sound stage is to be built in Henderson.

Waitakere City Council last night voted to enter into a joint venture with the Tony Tay Group to develop the $7 million facility.

The 2000sq m of floor space will also have 15m of clear space to the ceiling (tall enough to construct a double storey building) as well as separate production offices. It will be built on land at the existing Henderson Valley Studios in Henderson Valley Road, which already has four other studios of around 1000sq m each.

Under the arrangement the Council will exchange the land and buildings it currently owns for 44.5% of shares in the new joint-venture company.

The Council purchased the old ENZA cool stores in Henderson Valley Road in 2002, turning them into New Zealand’s largest film studio complex. The site has been managed by the City’s wholly owned property company, Waitakere Properties Ltd.

Numerous New Zealand and international feature films, television programmes, and TV advertisements have been filmed at the Henderson Valley Studios complex, including the biggest budget movie in the world last year, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey says the development has both local and international significance.

“Thanks to our great locations, superb technical people and the vast spaces that are at the (Henderson Valley) Studios, we can cater for large international projects, right down to local TV game shows. This new studio and sound stage will be as good as anything in the world and that means we will be even more attractive to major overseas studios.”

Those comments are echoed by ex-pat Kiwi film producer and director Roger Donaldson. Mr Donaldson’s credits include Hollywood blockbusters like Cocktail (starring Tom Cruise), Cadillac Man and The Recruit, and more recently The World’s Fastest Indian. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles.

The multi award-winner says: “New Zealand has stunning locations but in many ways locations can be re-created anywhere. With the right weather conditions, Poland can look like Paris in the spring-time. What international projects really need are big studios spaces and make no mistake, if you build it, they will come.”

“This is a great project. Wellington has good studio space and now the Auckland region is well catered for too.”

The film and television industries inject an estimated $60 million a year into the local economy and a detailed economic impact report prepared for AREDS (Auckland Regional Economic Development Strategy) projects that the new facility will create hundreds of new jobs and contribute $32 million to Waitakere City’s GDP over a five year period.

“The spin-off of this project is clearly more jobs and local investment, as well as a better served film and TV industry” says Mayor Harvey.

The new studio project will also receive close to $1 million in Government funding from the Ministry of Economic Development’s Major Regional Initiative Fund.

The announcement is welcomed by Waitakere’s economic development agency, Enterprise Waitakere. CEO John Wadsworth says: “A sound stage is a core piece of screen industry infrastructure.”

“Combined with proximity to diverse locations and a growing network of studios, production houses and other industry support services, the sound stage gives real force to Waitakere’s drive to become the screen production hub for Auckland,” he says.

“It will increase Waitakere’s competitiveness internationally and benefit the local industry too because not only will they have use of the facility but they will gain invaluable experience by working alongside larger-scale international ventures.”

Mayor Harvey says that in the year since the Council sought expressions of interests from the private sector it carefully evaluated each potential partner.

“We looked here and overseas,” he says. “And we’re delighted to have Tony Tay and his team on board. They bring proven construction experience and commercial nous and are committed to the film and television industry as a whole.”

Tony Tay Group will manage the physical construction as well as providing over half of the funding for the project.

Malaysian born Tony Tay is a committed Christian whose company has been a major player in the Auckland property market since 1989.

There are 28 separate companies in the Tay Group, which has been involved in many major developments in Auckland in recent years. These include:

• “Sapphire”, a $35 million residential and retail development in Wakefield St, Auckland City
• Numerous developments in Waitakere City, including the development of the Crown Lynn apartments complex in New Lynn
• A $10 million joint venture car-park and apartment development with Auckland City Council
• A $45 million hotel currently under construction in Hobson St, Auckland City

Mr Tay says he and his company are excited by the prospect of the studios development. “We have worked in Waitakere City before and are excited about the potential that the film industry has,” he says. “It is a sunrise industry that needs infrastructure like this to keep it ahead of the game internationally.”

“As a group we have established ourselves as solid and reputable and we are now looking forward to the adding the studios development to our list of successes.”

Work on the new studio and sound stage is expected to start in November and will take about seven months to complete.

27 June

New pool safety standard doesn’t solve complex issue

Proposed new standards for pool safety released on 19 June by Standards New Zealand do not help solve the questions raised by such a complex issue, says councillor Derek Battersby, chairman of the Swimming Pool Exemption committee.

“Waitakere City Council, with other territorial authorities, went to the High Court in 2004 to seek a clearer definition of the term ‘immediate pool area’ because of ambiguity in existing legislation,” says councillor Battersby.

The judge ruled that any further interpretation of the Fencing of Swimming Pools Act should be done by Parliament, not the courts.

However the judge’s acknowledgement of an existing grey area in the law, which makes it difficult for both pool owners and local authorities to understand and comply with their obligations, was helpful. It was hoped this would spur some legislative action from Central Government.

“It is good to see some effort being made in response to the judgement, but it does little to answer our original questions about the issue in regards to defining barriers and areas around pools,” says councillor Battersby.

The Standard, which is being developed by an expert committee of representatives from a cross-section of organisations, will limit unsupervised access to swimming pools, spas and hot tubs by establishing layers of protection for young children against the potential for drowning.

The intention in developing the Standard is to enable Parliament to consider using it as a replacement for the Schedule in the Fencing of Swimming Pool Act 1987, by way of an amendment to the Act.

The submissions period runs from 19 June to 11 August 2006. For a copy of the public comment draft please contact Vicki Allison at Standards NZ on vicki.allison@standards.co.nz or (04) 495 0932 or see the following websites:

The Department of Building and Housing: www.dbh.govt.nz

Water Safety New Zealand: www.watersafety.org.nz

26 June

Council signs off plans

Waitakere City Council has completed deliberations on its 10-year Plan and Annual Budget for 2006/2007.

The budget (known as the Annual Plan) sets projects and priorities for the next financial year while the 10-year Plan (the Long Term Council Community Plan) is a new requirement under the Local Government Act and sets priorities for the next decade.

Councillors began their deliberations with the draft plan in February. This plan was then released for public submissions, after which hearings were held.

One of the key decisions was to drop a proposal to introduce a new rating system. A change to Capital Value would have seen around a third of the City’s residential ratepayers receiving a rates reduction. There were 428 formal submissions against the proposal, with 102 in favour.

“We asked the people for their views and we heard them loud and clear,” says Janet Clews who chairs the Annual Plan-Long Term Council Community Plan Special Committee.

The decision means that rates will continue to be levied under the Land Value system (which is based on the value of a bare section of a property without improvements, such as houses).

A second major decision was to not introduce “Pan Charges” for schools. This would have seen schools paying towards the costs of removing waste water, through a levy on the number of toilets each had. Such a scheme is in place in North Shore City.

“Once again we heard loud and clear that the schools simply could not absorb these costs”, says Councillor Clews.

“We firmly believe that the Government, through the Ministry of Education, should be funding the operation of schools, and that they shouldn’t be subsidised by rate payers. But the Government isn’t stumping up. We don’t want schools to be used as a political football so we have rejected the idea,” says Councillor Clews, who is a former school teacher.

The Council also introduced a $350 flat charge for wastewater for residential properties where connection can be made to the Council’s sewerage system. Previously all wastewater was billed according to a property’s land value. Properties in rural areas such as Whenuapai, Piha and Huia are exempt.

The approved budget for 2006/2007 shows a Council controlled average rates rise of 6.8%, one of the lowest of local authorities in the region.

The average residential property owner, with a land value of $150,000, will pay $1581 next year (an increase of $1.23 per week).

Major drivers of the Council’s cost increases are depreciation and interest charges.

Next year the bulk of the Council’s spending (81%) will be on what Councillor Clews describes as “the basics” of clean water, waste water, parks, roading and community facilities such as libraries.

Features of the 2006/2007 budget include:

• A 3000 seat covered grandstand and floodlights at the Douglas Track and Field in Henderson (next to The Trusts Stadium).
• Water rates remaining unchanged at $1.48 per cubic metre.
• $2.1million to begin work on a new Youth Centre in Henderson.
• The uniform annual general charge (a proportion of the rates bill paid by all properties regardless of their land value) has been set at $600. That has the effect of evening out rates across all properties in the City.
• $2 million for the first stage of the redevelopment of Lopdell House in Titirangi
• Adoption of a transport strategy that will see a capita investment of $149 million spent in the next decade on roading improvements, railway station upgrades, walkways and other public transport initiatives. This funding will attract a further $159 million in subsidies from agencies such as Transit New Zealand.

The Annual Plan and Long term Council Community Plan will be formally signed off next Friday (June 30), after they have been reviewed by Audit New Zealand. At that point the rates for 2006-2007 will be formally “struck”.

26 June

Stadium Scoops Prestigious Property Awards

The Trusts Stadium took top honours in two categories last night at the prestigious Property Council of New Zealand Rider Hunt Awards, winning the Excellence awards for the Tourism and Leisure property sector and the Energy Efficiency Award for excellence in energy efficient building design.

The Trusts Stadium was developed in partnership with Waitakere City Council and has quickly become an icon for Waitakere City, a place in which the community gather and enjoy a wide range events and activities. The Stadium was entered for the awards by Alan Reay Consultants, the NZ based engineers who worked in tandem with Architects Warren and Mahoney, Project Manager Suresh Nagaiya and Canam Construction.

Since its completion, The Trusts Stadium has featured in national and international architectural magazines, attracting accolades for its user-friendly and innovative design, which melds a broad range of functions into a central community hub.

The awards formally recognize both the innovative design value of the building and the contribution it makes to the local community”, says Stadium Chief Executive, Simon Wickham. "The Trusts Stadium has attracted a huge level of interest and use by the local community - and has gained attention from other venues throughout New Zealand, as a benchmark in terms of a multiuse energy efficient community facility. Furthermore it has attracted a large number of high profile national and international events to Waitakere City, serving to showcase the city to the rest of New Zealand and the World. It is a credit to the many who contributed to its development”

Independent research showed a staggering one in three people in the local community had made use of The Trusts Stadium facilities since opening in September 2004.

The judges of the awards were extremely impressed with the high levels of community use at The Trusts Stadium, as well as the multi-purpose nature which allows it to transform from a sporting arena, to a world class events and entertainment venue in a matter of just a few hours. The judges also commented on the innovative thinking used in the pre-design, design and operational phases which have ensured that energy efficiency is maximized to keep the Stadium’s overheads down and to minimize its impact on Waitakere City’s water and energy resources.

For the Waitakere City Council, the Energy Efficiency Award is another example of the Eco City philosophy put into practice; providing for social needs while also caring for our environment. “The award is further endorsement of the world class standard that The Trusts Stadium and Waitakere City are setting in their public buildings” says Waitakere City Mayor Bob Harvey. “The city and I congratulate everyone involved in the award and in our stadium”.

23 June

Waitakere offers micro-chipping for $20

Most dogs and dog owners in Waitakere will not be greatly affected by the new micro-chipping bill passed by Parliament.

From 1 July 2006, all dogs registered in New Zealand for the first time will have to be micro-chipped. This will mainly apply to new puppies born on, just before, or after that date.

Most other dogs will not need to be micro-chipped.

“Waitakere City Council’s Animal Welfare Centre is providing micro-chipping for $20 per dog to residents who wish to have instant identification of their dog,” says Councillor Vanessa Neeson, chairman of the Council’s Planning and Regulatory Committee.

“Unfortunately it will not stop irresponsible owners letting their dogs roam but it will help identify the owners of lost or stolen dogs with the new National Dog Database. It will also be much easier for dog control officers to keep track of dangerous and menacing dogs as they move around the country,” Ms Neeson says.

A microchip, about the size of a grain of rice, is inserted into the scruff of a dog’s neck. It contains a unique number for that dog, providing a secure and reliable way of identifying it for the rest of its life.

As with other injections, micro-chipping is a simple procedure.

After it has been micro-chipped, lost dogs picked up by a dog control officer, or injured and taken to a vet, can be scanned to find out the number.

This can then be checked by the council on the National Dog Database, which will show the owner’s contact details, ensuring a quick reunion for dog and owner.
 

23 June

Charge parking to continue

Paid parking will continue at Henderson following a year’s trial at three locations.

The council now has to consider whether it will manage paid parking or continue to use an external organisation to do the job.

The introduction of paid parking is part of the council’s transport strategy to focus on commuting options and ensure that commuter parking stays on the town’s periphery and that central car parks are available for shorter stay, shopper car parks.

“The paid parking trial met the goals to upgrade the car parks with extra security and to change expectations that parking is free. The council needed to test safety, security, alter travel behaviour and recover infrastructure costs at the end of the trial and these objectives have been achieved,” says Finance and Operational Committee Chair Councillor Janet Clews.

The three paid parking locations at Corban Hill car park, Falls car park and part of the Alderman Drive/Edmonton Rd car park have been managed by Care Park New Zealand Limited.

23 June

Waitakere growth surpasses national rate in last decade

Strong business and economic growth has been recorded at Waitakere over the last 10 years (1995-2005) national growth rates have been surpassed.

The latest Business and Economy update shows that during these years Waitakere’s business units increased by 4.3% every year, while employment and real gross domestic production grew at an annual average rate of 2.3% and 3.4% respectively.

The most recent figures for the year ending February 2005 show Waitakere’s overall performance as 11th out of 73 territorial authorities.

In terms of four key performance indicators like population, employment, real value added (GDP) and business units growth, Waitakere outranked Auckland (15th) and Franklin (37th). In the Auckland area, the highest scorer was Manukau which came 3rd, Papakura (6th), North Shore (8th) and Rodney District (10th).

The economic thumbprint compiled from Statistics New Zealand’s annual business demographic survey and BERL’s Regional Database concludes that Waitakere’s economy will continue to be driven by its population growth and the associated investment in retail, health, education and recreational services.

Last year’s performance showed significant increases in the number of business units (3.4%) - higher than both Auckland region and New Zealand growth rates. However, GDP growth (3.6%) and employment growth (3.2%) were lower than the Auckland region and the New Zealand average. Waitakere’s 10 year findings were especially impressive, showing that the city’s indicators were better than that of New Zealand but slightly behind Auckland’s.

Employment figures up

The latest estimates show that Waitakere’s employment grew by 1,444 full time equivalents in the last recorded year, taking the total to 47,271 FTEs at March 2005. This follows a 2,163 FTE increase in the previous year.

Employment growth has been particularly strong in building, retail, social services and recreational services although there has been a decline in the primary sector.

Consolidation of economic growth continues

Over the 10 year period (1995-2005), Waitakere City has maintained a strong pace of economic growth at an average rate of 3.4% - higher than New Zealand’s 3.3 % per annum.

Waitakere continued to consolidate its economic growth in 2005 with GPD growing by 3.6% to an estimated $3.03 billion through to March 2005.

Business units increase

The pace of growth in the number of business units in the 10 year period increased at an annual rate of 4.3% compared to the New Zealand rate of 3.3% and the Auckland region (4.4%).

High proportion of owner-operated businesses

One of the most striking characteristics of Waitakere’s economy is that 65% of the businesses have no employees, implying that they are owner-operated unit (compared to 59% at the national level).

Growth industries reflect nature of Waitakere

The ten fastest growing industries (by employment) in Waitakere in 2005 were communication services (23% growth since 2004), libraries (15.1%) , museums and the arts, government administration (11.6%), health services (10.8%) on-metallic mineral product manufacturing (10.6%), food, beverage and tobacco (9.4%), sport and recreation (9.2%), other services (8.3%) and construction trade services (7.7%).

Tourism and housing important economic activities

The latest annual growth in tourism guest nights was significant in the year ended November 2005 with an increase of over 23%, compared to 2.3% for New Zealand and a marginal decline (0.1%) in the Auckland Region.

Average house prices higher than national average

The average house price for the year to June 2005 at around $337,000 was higher than the national average of $309,000 but below the Auckland Region average of $442,000. In the same period Waitakere house prices increased by 14.6% compared with a 12.1% rise in the Auckland Region and a 16.9% rise nationally.

20 June

Residents encouraged to have their say

Residents are being urged to have their say on several draft strategies proposed by the Waitakere City Council.

Protecting the possibility of having an airport at Whenuapai.  The draft plan change includes a new policy, a new special area rule, and amendments to the district plan maps to identify the special area and amendments to the noise contour map.

Protecting the ecological integrity of Waitakere City’s natural habitat is the goal of the Draft Pest Plant and Animal Strategy.

Anyone is welcome to submit their objections to the four ward system of representation recommended by the council recently. As the initial proposal of three wards has been modified, anyone may object to the proposed membership and electoral arrangements of the Waitakere City Council.

The city’s Draft Commercial Sex Strategy is also out for comment. The draft strategy’s core proposals regulate the location of brothels in Waitakere City. These limitations would be covered by District Plan changes.

Note: The Commercial Sex

20 June

Mayor welcomes report on region’s future

Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey has welcomed a high level draft report into the future direction of the region.

The (draft) report by an international review team was released today.

Mayor Harvey says the issues identified are commonsense.

“For more than a decade Waitakere has focused on more compact developments around town centres, and economic development is our number one priority,” he says. “It is good to have those strategies endorsed.”

“But talk – and reports like this – are meaningless unless there is action behind them. What we need now are real concrete plans for tackling the problems and recognition that Auckland local authorities must work together rather than beavering away on our own plans and projects.”

Mayor Harvey also welcomes the report’s references to events. “We have a hanging coming in 2011,” he says. “It’s called the Rugby World Cup and the America’s Cup Challenge and unless we have all our planning, and particularly transport, sorted out by then there will be chaos. This report really puts the spotlight on that international event.”

The possibility of a commercial airport at Whenuapai Airbase is also touched on in the report. “We have always said that Whenuapai would be a secondary, primarily domestic, airport hub. That fits with what the report says,” says Mayor Harvey.

The Regional Economic Development Forum will consider the draft recommendations over the next couple of weeks, with the final report due in July.

19 June

Waitakere Council listens to the people

Capital Value rating and Pan Charges on the back burner for this year.

Waitakere City Councillors have “listened to the people” and today decided not to introduce Capital Value rating and “pan charges” for schools, this year.

The Council will, however, continue to work on analysing various rating systems to find the one most equitable to all ratepayers.

“We had very robust debate during this year’s LTCCP (Long Term Council Community Plan) and Annual Plan meetings with more than 530 submissions on Capital Value alone, 428 against and 102 for. After listening to those submissions we have decided that we will stay with the Land Value system we already use, for now,” says Councillor Janet Clews who chairs the hearings process.

“However, Land Value is not the most equitable system for the city and we need to continue to do the work to find the system that is,” she says.

The Council will spend the year analysing the relative merits of the three systems available to the council: Land Value, Capital Value and Annual Value. The first levies rates only on the value of the land belonging to a property. Capital Value rates on the full value of land and improvements. Annual Value rates on the rentable value of properties or capital value.

“If we had chosen Capital Value, 32% of our ratepayers would have had a decrease in their rates and a further 17% would have had an increase of less than the average of 6.5% But many of those facing an increase, were facing very large increases and they spoke very clearly in opposition to introducing Capital Value next year,” Cr Clews says.

“On the basis of that consultation, we will stick with what we have got. That is what consultation is about; putting proposals in front of people and then weighing up their views before making a decision,” she says.

“However, we note that many of the submitters were not actually opposed to Capital Value. They didn’t want Capital Value being introduced next year because that gave them insufficient time to adjust their budgets to cope with what were, in many cases, very substantial increases.

“That’s not to say that they weren’t concerned about the size of the increase as well but, the over-riding impression we got was that they could live with a system change if we had worked through the issues first,” she says.

“So, we will spend the next year analysing the three options to find the best system for the city. During that time we will also consult with the public and business on this issue, to arrive at a system that most people can agree on,” Cr Clews says

The Council has also deferred Pan Charges for now because while it believes the Government should be paying the charges - not the schools - Government is not doing so.

”The Government has actually created a formula that allows Councils to make these charges,” says Councillor Clews.

“Under that formula we would have charged schools for just under half of their pans. Unfortunately, having provided the formula that enables pan charges to be made, the Government has not provided the schools with the money they need to pay the charge,” says Councillor Clews.

“We think the Government should pay the costs. They own the schools and tax us for the money to run them. However, they don’t pay and rather than make schools into a political football, we have decided not to proceed with the pan charges, this year,” she says.

Councillors will spend the rest of the week deliberating all aspects of the draft budgets, before adopting the LTCCP 2006 – 2016 incorporating the Annual Plan for 2006/2007. These draft budgets show a Council-controlled rate increase of 6.85% for the coming financial year. The major drivers of that increase are depreciation and interest charges which alone account for over half of the proposed increases.

In the next financial year the Council will spend the bulk of its money (78%) on stormwater, wastewater, parks and roading.

Councillor Clews says that all areas of income and expenditure were carefully scrutinised during the hours of debate and deliberation.

“The city is growing rapidly and will continue to do so for many years to come. There are literally thousands more residents in Waitakere every year and as the city gets more and more attractive, it will continue to be popular. But, that all comes at a cost which we have to meet to the best of our ability while keeping the city affordable for all,” she says.

19 June

Are you ready for an emergency?

The storm of Monday 12 June questions how prepared our community is to survive on their own without power for and extended period of maybe up to three days, says Cr Derek Battersby, chairman of the Waitakere City Council Emergency Services Special Committee.

The storm caused major disruptions throughout the country and left half of the Auckland Region without power for several hours.

“For areas such as Waitakere City, which were largely unaffected by the storm and only had some inconvenience with traffic flow, it is a timely reminder about how prepared our citizens are to cope in an emergency,” says Cr Battersby.

“If power had been out in Waitakere City and the outage had lasted for at least throughout the night and into the following morning or into another day, I worry about how prepared people are to cope,” he says.

Restoration of power to residential areas comes after Hospitals, Essential Services and Pumping Stations for sewerage and water.

“In the event of a major emergency, people will need to be able to look after ourselves for at least three days. This means stored water and food, alternative cooking facilities, battery powered radio, torch, spare batteries, emergency toilet, first aid kit, medications and pet supplies,” Cr Battersby says.

“People need to ask themselves ‘how prepared are we” and then do what they can to fill in the gaps and a good starting point is to read the civil Defence information at the back cover of the yellow pages” .

To help plan for an emergency, a pamphlet is also available through the Waitakere City Council. They can be picked up from any Library or contact us for a copy to be sent out.

More information on being prepared for an emergency can be found at:
Civil Defence emergency management in Waitakere City
www.cdemg.org.nz
www.getthru.govt.nz
www.civildefence.govt.nz

16 June

NZ champs win Australasian local government management challenge

A team of six staff from Waitakere City Council has won the finals of the Australasian local government “Management Challenge” in Perth.

Teams for the final had been selected after a series of regional competitions held over the past few months. The Waitakere team beat 16 other councils in New Zealand for the right to contest the Australasian title against the six Australian state champions.

The challenge (run by Local Government Managers Australia-LGMA) required teams to come up with strategies and solutions “on the spot” to a series of problems – a test of ability to respond under time pressure, working with a lack of full information and personnel who may be unavailable.

It is designed to develop new skills in the areas of leadership, teamwork and issue resolution.

The Waitakere team is comprised of Peter Sewell (mentor), Dai Bindoff, Philip Brown, Ross McLeod, Setareh Masoud-Ansari, Monica Sharma and Bronwyn Allerby.

Waitakere City chief executive officer Harry O’Rourke says the win is a tangible recognition of the calibre of staff at the council.

“This team is made up of people from across the organisation, from the likes of consents area, project management and policy development, which shows the depth of outstanding ability we have,” he says.

The Waitakere team travelled to Perth at the LGMA’s expense.

2 June

Waitakere City proposes modern alternatives to huge power line

Waitakere City Council has written to the Electricity Commission opposing Transpower’s proposed new 400kv power line and saying that there are better ways to secure Auckland region’s electricity for the future.

“Looking at Transpower’s proposal you could easily believe that technology and science came to a standstill in about 1900,” says Councillor Penny Hulse, chair of Waitakere City Council’s City Development Committee, which agreed to send the submission to the Electricity Commission.

Transpower has proposed the new power line from Whakamaru to Otahuhu – on huge pylons – as a way to guarantee the power supply to Auckland and Northland in the future. This has been opposed by the Electricity Commission itself and by other groups, including Waikato rural communities.

“We support the concerns expressed by the people of the Waikato. The Auckland region needs to take more responsibility for meeting its own energy needs through more efficient use of energy and using sustainable energy generation alternatives, says Cr Hulse.

“Today, we can reduce the energy needs of buildings to a very significant extent so they consume far less energy than in the past. Meanwhile, modern technology has given us tiny but efficient wind-turbines and solar technology that in combination, can generate very significant amounts of electricity,” she says.

“A combination of energy savings and local, solar and wind, power generation, can go a long way towards reducing future demand. This is not ‘green politics’; this is today’s scientific reality and now is the time and this is the opportunity, to take advantage of it,” says Councillor Hulse.

Councillor Hulse says the council will be explaining its position to other councils in the region and seek co-operation on this important issue.

“Security of power supply is crucial for everyone in the Auckland region and especially for business. Local energy savings and energy generation has the potential to not only guarantee supply – but also resilience – in the long term. Resilience can be looked at various ways. It is much harder to knock out total energy supply in a disaster, for example. There is also resilience against future cost increases associated with building major infrastructure, or with oil prices,” says Councillor Hulse.

“Our council wants to work closely with businesses in Waitakere to meet their future needs in a variety of ways and this is one of the key areas on which we can work together,” she says.

“We oppose Transpower’s proposal because it is a 19th century answer when we have more sustainable 21st century alternatives available,” says Councillor Hulse.