Howick Local Board feedback on draft intensification

Government (aka Parliament) has instructed Auckland Council that we must provide for more housing intensification - by law we have no choice but to allocate capacity for 2 million new dwellings (read more about this here).

And they've set incredibly tight timeframes to make the decision on which plan to use. Auckland must choose either:

1. Plan Change 78 which couldn't downzone high risk locations, had to allow 3 houses up to 3 storeys on almost every property (MDRS), and was notified in 2022.
   OR

2. replacement plan change that has intensification more focused, reducing intensification in the highest risk areas, but draft maps have only just be released.

   Last week the Howick Local Board held an additional meeting to formalise our feedback into the process. We did our best in the short timeframe to make our community aware and 75 people turned up to our meeting (setting new record). We’re doing everything we can to ensure that our community’s voice is heard so we held a public forum with 13 people/groups speaking to us (another new record). Plus countless emails, phone calls, social media replies and more.
   
   We took nearly four hours to listen, consider, and formulate our feedback. Given the tight timeframes and complex issues, it wasn't easy and we're grateful to the public and staff for their input and support. In the end we:
   ❎ opposed both plan changes and requested more realistic timeframes to do this properly
   ✅ supported improvements to focus intensification, return single house zones, and better controls to avoid natural hazards.
   ❎ opposed Howick Village upzoning and asked for stronger protections for Stockade Hill
   ❎ opposed upzoning through Cockle Bay transport corridor on basis of poor infrastructure, huge impact, and marginal evidence
   ℹ️ provided alternatives for upzoning, closer to existing infrastructure and other intensification
   
   Next step is for the Governing Body (Mayor and Councillors) to consider the feedback of all 21 local boards, mana whenua, nearby councils, and government ministries. They will then make their decision in late September.
   
   You can find our full feedback in our minutes available here: https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2025/08/20250828_HW_MIN_13699_WEB.htm
   
   And a recording of our meeting here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNiuqKCzobSzQ05kCv2JI2iefmDp2_tEh

Draft intensification plans released

The Auckland Unitary Plan (AUP) is our city's zoning planning rule book. It's governed by the Resource Management Act (RMA) and allowed for approximately 900k new homes.

Under the previous government, the council was required to make widespread changes to the AUP to enable even greater levels of intensification. The resulting changes to the AUP were included in Proposed Plan Change 78: Intensification (PC78) notified in August 2022.

The very recently enacted Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Act enables the council, if it chooses, to withdraw in part, PC78, provided the council notifies a replacement plan change that satisfies new requirements. The council had previously been unable to withdraw PC78 (in whole or in part).

On 21 August 2025 the Policy and Planning Committee endorsed a draft replacement plan change to enable staff to consult on it with iwi authorities, government ministries and adjoining councils, and to request local board views on the draft replacement plan change and a corresponding withdrawal in part of PC78.

Due to the timeframes set by central government in the Act, the council will need to decide in September 2025 whether or not to withdraw from PC78 and, if so, to proceed with a replacement plan change.

What does this mean for East Auckland? Because of the short time frames, we have limited information available to us. Staff have prepared maps that show the new zoning that is proposed and I've taken the current AUP zones, PC78, and the replacement maps to compare them. These are subject to change, but hopefully this helps show the differences between the three plans. In PC78 intensification is spread across the area, while in the replacement plan, intensification is being focused around town centres and transit routes.

The choice before council is PC78 or the replacement. Local Boards are not the decision-makers but we do have an opportunity to provide input.

The Howick Local Board is meeting on Thursday 28 August 2025 at 1pm to consider our feedback. While there is no formal public consultation prior to notification, we've agreed to accept public input at this meeting so we can better convey what the community thinks. People or groups wanting to speak are encouraged to register via howicklocalboard@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz

You can find more in our agenda published here:
https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2025/08/20250828_HW_AGN_13699_WEB.htm

Opportunity to take back (some) control of intensification

Parliament has just passed legislation that gives Auckland an opportunity to take back some control of housing intensification. But there are still challenges ahead and there are limitations on what can be done next.

In 2021, the National and Labour parties joined forces to increase housing intensification. This included requiring large cities across NZ to upzone for 30 years of growth. Included in these changes was the Medium Density Residential Standard (MDRS) which allows three homes of up to three storeys high to be built on most residential sites in urban Auckland without a resource consent. While councils may not have agreed with this change, Parliament makes the law - there were special requirements in the legislation that required councils to comply. It also denied councils the ability to downzone anything until the changes were made. In response, Auckland created Plan Change 78 (PC78) which was notified in 2022 with feedback and hearings.

When the storms hit on Auckland Anniversary 2023, Auckland Council asked the Government of the day for permission to halt intensification. The Minister agreed to an extension until March 2024 to allow council to investigate natural hazards and flooding. In October 2023 another Government was sworn in and the same conversations were had, and another extension was granted (until March 2025). Replacement legislation was introduced in December 2024, with another extension while it went through parliament. However the city centre was excluded from the extension and as a result, the city centre parts of PC78 were made operative in June 2025.

The legislation passed allows Auckland to withdraw PC78, subject to conditions. One of these is that withdrawal requires council to replace it with another plan change that provides the same or more housing capacity. In essence, Auckland will be able to determine where, but not if, we intensify. There is also a requirement to notify the new plan before 10 October (literally the day before election). And it's a one-time opportunity - withdraw PC78 now or continue and it becomes operative.

The decision to withdraw isn't automatic and will be made by the Governing Body (Mayor and Councillors), probably at the Policy and Planning Committee on Thursday 21 August. Given the extraordinary tight timeframes, we understand that there won't be public consultation before this decision.

While we've been waiting for Parliament, Auckland Council has been preparing. Workshops have been held with the Governing Body (Mayor and Councillors) to create a draft proposal that meets the Government's requirements (as best we could understand them before the bill passed). While Local Boards have been provided some updates, we're not responsible for the decisions or the direction of the plan and we've had no input (zoning sits with the Governing Body). The Howick Local Board is expecting to have an opportunity to provide feedback and we’ll be arranging an additional meeting on Thursday 28 August to fit into the timelines.

While I'm pleased that Auckland is getting some control back, it comes with significant conditions and an extraordinarily tight timeframe. I strongly support quality intensification in the right places (over unsustainable urban sprawl), but this rushed process is unlikely to lead to the best outcomes.

As more information become available, I’ll make sure we share what we can.

Transparency is vital to our democracy

Being an elected member for Auckland Council is a privilege. But it also comes with responsibilities and we're remunerated for our time. We're not volunteers and it's reasonable to expect that we turn up to do our job.

As part of providing transparency, Auckland Council publishes the attendance for elected members at business meetings and workshops. For Local Boards, these are published every quarter and available online for the whole term.

For some reason, Auckland Council reports and publishes this information differently for the Governing Body (Mayor and Councillor) with only the past 3 months showing. There also appears to be some gaps in the data, so I've asked for the information for the full term.

In the meantime, I've collated the Howick Local Board data for the last term (January 2023 to June 2025). Over this period we had a total of 36 business meetings and 92 workshops.

View fullsize

View fullsize

Absences may be due to leave, illness, bereavement or attending other council business - we don't record the reasons for members being away, you'd need to ask them. We also don't record any difference between online or in-person attendance - I've asked staff if we can do this but I'm told it's not current practice.

You'll note I was absent for two workshops - for one (May 2023) I was on leave (for my partners significant birthday) and another I was at the Governing Body trying to advocate for our community. I also attended one workshop online as I was sick, and we've had two workshops entirely online due to technology issues. Otherwise I have been present in the room for every workshop and business meeting this term.

You can see more (including the source data, other local boards and councillors) on the Auckland Council website: https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/about-auckland-council/performance-transparency/Pages/attendance-governing-body-meetings.aspx

Consultation on Kerrykeel Drive, Flat Bush

Ormiston Primary School, along with residents, parents and the wider Flat Bush community, has raised concerns about pedestrian safety and high traffic speeds in the vicinity of the school.

In response, the Howick Local Board asked Auckland Transport to investigate improvements to make the roads safer and easier to navigate for everyone, especially for tamariki using Kerrykeel Drive.

The proposed changes are:
1️⃣At the Kerrykeel Drive/Arranmore Drive roundabout:
🚧two road-level zebra crossings on the eastern and western sides of the roundabout (replacing refuge islands)
🚧 new pedestrian refuge island crossing on Arranmore Drive

Eleven on-street parking spaces near the crossings will be reprioritised as “no stopping at all times” zones and marked with broken yellow lines to improve visibility near pedestrian crossings.

2️⃣On Kerrykeel Drive (near Springside Drive)
🚧 Upgrade the existing pedestrian refuge island crossing to a school patrolled road level zebra crossing.
🚧 installing high friction surfacing on the approaches to the zebra crossing to make it easier for drivers to stop more quickly and safely when approaching a pedestrian crossing
🚧 New cycle ramps and widened footpath on the northern side of the crossing to assist with cyclist movements

Public consultation is open until 6 August. You can find out more, including how to have your say, here: https://haveyoursay.at.govt.nz/kerrykeel-drive-arranmore-drive-roundabout

Consultation on Sunnyview Ave

In response to community concerns about the lack of crossing facilities on Sunnyview Avenue, the Howick Local Board asked Auckland Transport to investigate options to make it safer for children and families to get to Shelly Park Primary School.

The proposal is to:
🚧 install a new zebra crossing on Sunnyview Avenue, monitored by school patrols
🚧 install new pram crossings and street lighting on either side of the crossing
🚧 replace 5 kerbside parking spaces between the school bus stop and the new crossing with broken yellow lines (no stopping at all times).

Shelly Park Primary School and the community dental clinic will be more accessible. It will be easier for tamariki and whānau to walk, bike or scoot to school. Road markings and parking changes will make it easier to see pedestrians. This will make them safer.

If you have questions or feedback you can phone 09 355 3553 or email atengagement@at.govt.nz with the subject line ‘Shelly Park Primary School crossing’.

Before construction begins, Auckland Transport will contact residents directly affected by the works.

Consultation on Stage 2, The Parade Bucklands Beach

The Parade on Bucklands Beach is a popular destination for families and local residents. After years of complaints and concerns from local residents about unsafe driving, the Howick Local Board asked Auckland Transport to improve safety through speed calming.

In October 2024, construction was completed on Stage One of the improvements which (based on public consultation) included one raised crossing and three speed bumps.

Phase two will continue at five locations chosen based on pedestrian demand, traffic surveys, and safety analysis.

Site 1: Devon Road and 23 The Parade
🚧 install a new pram crossing with kerb buildouts on Devon Road
🚧 install new side islands and refuge island outside 23 The Parade

Site 2: 41 The Parade
🚧 install new side islands with pram crossings

Site 3: Wharf Road intersection
🚧 install additional zebra crossings along The Parade at existing raised intersection
🚧 install new lighting

Site 4: 55 The Parade
🚧 install new side islands with pram crossings
🚧 install small section of footpath to connect to Grangers Point

Site 5: Laings Road
🚧 install splitter island and formalise Give-Way control at carpark
extend broken yellow lines around the bends to ensure the required sight line is maintained

As with Stage One, public feedback is helpful for us to understand what you think will work and what needs to change. We made significant changes to Stage One based on public feedback, delivering a more cost effective and safer road for everyone.

Public consultation closes on Friday 8 August. You can find out more, including how to have your say, here: https://haveyoursay.at.govt.nz/the-parade-bucklands-beach-pedestrian-improvements-stage-2

Eastern Busway connecting communities and driving growth

Eastern Busway will provide more transport choice for East Auckland. But it's also an opportunity for urban regeneration.

The newly formed Auckland Urban Development Office is leading the programme to connect communities and drive growth.

The opportunities are focused on land in easy walking distance to the new bus stations at Pakūranga, on Tī Rākau Drive (Te Taha Wai and Koata stations), and at Burswood (Pōhatu Station), so more people can live and work in areas close to public transport.

It's focusing on land that was acquired for the Eastern Busway that will no longer be needed for transport purposes after the busway construction is complete (called residual land). This may also be supplemented by some strategic property purchases, to enable high quality urban renewal.

Read more about it here: https://www.audo.co.nz/news/eastern-busway-is-connecting-communities-and-driving-growth/

My nominations are in!

Exciting milestone this morning as I handed in my paperwork to become a candidate in the upcoming elections. Handing in my paperwork in my local library is always a special moment and keeps it truly local.

I've worked hard as the Chairperson of the Local Board, providing leadership through significant challenges leading to rewarding successes. But there's more to do, so I'm standing again for Botany where I live. The Chairperson is elected by the Board when we're sworn in (late October).

And Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland deserves a more ambitious, disciplined, and diverse council. We need representatives who understand their communities, investing time to listen and respond to residents. So I'm once again standing for Auckland Council, as a candidate for Howick (which includes Pakūranga, Botany and Flat Bush).

There's a bit of paperwork involved. Nominations require a deposit of $200 per role, which is refunded if you get enough votes. You also need two locals to nominate you, confirming your connection to the place you want to represent. Each candidate can provide up to 150 words and a photo thay goes into the booklet sent out with voting papers.

Election day is Saturday 11 October, with voting papers delivered (in the mail) from 9 September.

You can find out more about the elections, including key dates at www.voteauckland.co.nz

Fixing funding of local boards

We need $216.5M to maintain our assets over the next 10 years, but we’ve only been allocated $114.1M.

At our workshop last week, the Howick Local Board received an update about our asset portfolio and it was pretty confronting. Over the next 9 years, we need $216.5M to maintain our existing assets (like playgrounds, libraries, and leisure centres). But Auckland Council has only allocated us $114.1M, leaving a 47% gap!

We've got enough funding to cover our priority renewals (those in the worst shape), but if we don't maintain all assets they will degrade, reducing their ability to serve the community. Deferring maintenance leads to higher costs in the future as parts break.

We're looking at all options to help close this gap, including changing how we deliver services to rely less on physical assets, optimising the assets we do have, and working with partners to deliver outcomes. But the scale of the challenge means none of this will be easy.

Council have two main funding sources for our assets:
🛠 operational expenses (like day-to-day maintenance, utilities) are covered by rates ($3B), fees ($1.9B) and other revenue ($1.3B).
🏗 capital expenses (like major renewals, new assets) are funded through operating revenue ($1.1B), subsidies ($0.9B), and debt ($1.7B) which is paid off over the lifetime of the asset (like you would a mortgage). To keep the interest manageable, council tries to keep the debt below 250% of revenue (270% absolute max).

New assets can also get funding from development contributions ($0.2B) which is a charge that properly developers pay to help fund assets in the area they're building. These funds cannot be used for anything other than the asset they were collected for.

The good news for Howick Local Board is that our venues for hire (valued at $4.5M) are generating enough revenue from hirage to cover their own day-to-day expenses. But as these buildings need more significant renewal, we need capital funding. And our libraries (valued at $32M), pool and leisure centres (valued at $15.6M) need upgrading so they can keep pace with our growing, changing population as well as shifts in technology and demands. And we know our playgrounds aren’t delivering what our communities need, with gaps especially in Flat Bush.

It’s important to note that Local Boards don't determine what our budget is, we only get (some) control over where our allocated budget goes. How much money each Local Board gets is decided by the Governing Body made up of the Mayor and 20 Councillors. Funding used to be based on what assets we had plus some discretionary funding, but this year we’ve moved to a different formula (known as fairer funding) which is based on population (80%), deprivation (15%), and land area (5%). For example, Howick has the largest population (160k), but lower deprivation (11%) and land area (69.7km2).

The Governing Body decides how much money they want Local Boards to have, then staff allocate it using this formula. Local Boards get less than 10minutes every year to present our feedback and beg for the resources we need to serve our communities. And not all the Councillors even bother to turn up to listen.

Auckland Council group OPEX from Long Term Plan 2024-2034

While the 21 local boards have a huge impact on their communities, they represent a small part of a large complex organisation. To put this into context:
🛠 Auckland Council operating budget for this year is $5,133M – all local boards are $491M (5%) and Howick is $37M (0.7%, 3rd highest).
🏗 Auckland Council’s capital budget for this year is $4,274M while all local boards are $212M (5%) and Howick is $10M (0.2%, 6th highest)

The cause of these issues go back before the creation of Auckland Council, with legacy councils building assets that they couldn’t afford to maintain. But even since the amalgamation, decisions have compounded the issues – like not fully funding depreciation until now so debt has ballooned. And in 2020, Auckland Council passed an emergency budget which slashed the capital spending. For Howick Local Board, the capital funding for 2021 went from a planned $20M to $1.5M. While it’s slowly increased over time, it’s never come back to the previous levels and never enough to compensate for the deferred maintenance.

Some budget pressure can be helpful - it makes us challenge decisions and focus on prioritising what’s important. The Howick Local Board has achieved significant savings over the past few years AND managed to deliver more value for our communities. But the growing gap is leaving our assets in a poor state and forcing us to make short-term decisions to balance our budgets.

This is a challenge across Auckland so there's a regionwide portfolio review underway to provide quality advice to local boards. We're expecting staff to come back to us in November and December with more information for the newly elected Board, with the intention of putting in place a plan by July 2026. This will be a major challenge for the new Howick Local Board to tackle.

Fixing the underlying issues will take longer but is essential for a thriving city. In my opinion:
💰 our budgeting process needs more focus on the outcomes – what do we need, not just what we’ve always done
👥 local boards need more opportunities for genuine involvement in regional decisions – we know our communities, help us serve them better
🏘 council needs to be more agile and responsive – we’re too slow and cumbersome, weighed down by complex structures
📑 staff need to provide more quality advice to elected members so we’re making the right decisions – 15 years to develop asset management plans is too slow
🏛 government needs to provide councils more funding sources so they’re not relying on debt and rates – portion of GST would be a good start

Because our workshop are open to the public, the materials are published online: https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2025/07/20250724_HLBWC_ATT_13171_WEB.htm

Consultation on Howick Sailing Club

The Howick Sailing Club has asked the Howick Local Board to consider granting them an extension to their lease at Howick Beach to allow them to create a larger storage shed (next to their existing building).

This is what they've said about the application:

"The club is in the early stages of a proposed infrastructure project to help assure the future of the club. We have several different issues that we’re trying to resolve;
The location of the club rooms over the water affords us an amazing view at our beautiful location. However it exposes the storage of club and club member assets under the club rooms to the potential effects of any sea level rise.

We are currently having to store club RHIBs and the tractor at club members properties. This option is not viable long term. We need the space at the beach area to store these.

We are finding that fewer members have the available space at their properties to store their sailors boats. This project will provide some space for sailors to have their boats at the club like the majority of other yacht clubs around the city. The vast majority of our sailors are kids. Being able to store boats at the beach would enable them to be more active and less reliant on parental spare time to transport boats backwards and forwards.

Our proposed lease application is for a building that joins onto the current Learn To Sail/Waterwise kiosk. It would occupy a space that is not currently used other than by a walkway which would be slightly re-routed. The embankment is steep and the sloped scoria wall is not an inviting place to sit and relax. On the roof of the new building we would provide a level platform upon which the public could relax and enjoy the environment."

This will result in an additional building footprint of 148m2 for leasing purposes (or a total of 164m2 when including the cantilevered portion of the viewing deck that extends over the existing carparking area). The project also involves the realignment of an existing path with stairs, removal of a rubbish bin and a section of rock retaining wall beside the carpark as shown in the plans.

Because this might have an impact on other users of the beach area, it's important that the public has an opportunity to have their say. Therefore Auckland Council has publicly notified the request and is seeking feedback until 5pm Friday 15 August.

A notice was also placed in this weeks Times newspaper. An earlier notice incorrectly said the area was 16m2 so it's been re-notified.

You can find out more about the request, including how to have your say here: https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/have-your-say/public-notices/Pages/community-lease-4r-granger-road-howick-howick-sailing-club.aspx

Progressing Flat Bush Library and Community Hub and Aquatic and Leisure Centre projects!

Flat Bush has grown quickly but the community infrastructure has not keep up. Two key facilities that have been promised for nearly two decades but never delivered are the Community Centre and Library, and the Pool and Leisure Centre. These have been priorities for the Howick Local Board but funding challenges within Auckland Council mean that we haven't made much progress. This is about to change.

At our recent meeting on Thursday 17 July, the Howick Local Board formally asked staff to advance to a focused planning phase, building on previous work and community engagement.

Much has changed since the last review was completed in 2019 and before we invest the $83M allocated for these facilities we want to ensure we're building what the community needs. We're also taking the opportunity to review where these will be built and exploring opportunities for partnerships.

The Community Centre and Library are planned for Block K next to the Ormiston Town Centre, while the Pool and Leisure Centre is planned for Barry Curtis Park (it was originally planned for Block B). We now have the option of combining Blocks K and G for both facilities which might be a better outcome - the review will help understand this option.

Don't worry the review won't take years - it's expected to be completed within the next few months, back in time for early 2026 when our new Board (including dedicated Flat Bush representatives) are in place.

For those interested the full report is available on our public agenda item 15: https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2025/07/20250717_HW_AGN_11594_WEB.htm

More improvements for Highland Park Library!

As part of the Howick Local Board multi-year renewal project of the much-loved Highland Park Library, more improvements are coming soon.

Firstly, the layout for the public toilets will be changed to turn one toilet into two. We'll also bring them both up to modern accessible standards.

Two new canopies will offer much-needed shade to the external courtyard. During summer, it’s bustling with kids’ activities and other events. By installing shade, the same area can also be used more often, increasing library space just in time for Summer.

A few trees in the courtyard are being removed as they create a mess and slip risks. To compensate, additional trees will be planted near the library entrance.

Works start on Monday 21 July with the toilets planned to be completed by mid-September and the external area by late-October.

Mahi toi (artwork) unveiled at Half Moon Bay

"Ko ngā whetū ki te rangi, ko ngā kirikiri ki te one taipapa, ko ngā mana whakaheke o Ngāi Tai."

(As the stars in the sky, and the grains of sand on our many foreshores, so are the myriad of chiefs in the pantheon of Ngāi Tai.)

Beautiful mahi tai (artwork) unveiled at dawn this morning at the Half Moon Bay Ferry Terminal. Designed by local iwi Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, it includes this whakataukī that is reflected in the artwork itself. It looks especially beautiful in the dark as the light shines through the stars.

This surrounds the new electric ferry charging infrastructure that will enable environmentally friendly, cost efficient, more reliable and quieter connections into the city. With construction on the landslide infrastructure now completed, the next step is the infrastructure in the city centre and commissioning of the new ferries.

There are unrelated works still happening at Half Moon Bay with upgrades underway for the Waiheke vehicle ferry.

Pre-Election Report released

“By 2034 we are projected to see an additional 200,000 Aucklanders joining our diverse community. That is slightly more than Hamilton being added, in only nine years. This rapid growth brings increased demand for services and infrastructure, such as transport, water services, parks and community facilities,” says Auckland Council chief executive Phil Wilson.

“To accommodate this growth, we must confront the challenges our region faces, while ensuring long-term financial sustainability. These include addressing Auckland’s relatively low productivity and lifting the region’s economic growth to support development.”

As part of the build up towards the elections, Auckland Council has released it's pre-election report.

There are six key issues for the incoming council to tackle:
📈addressing productivity and growth challenges
🏗infrastructure investment to support population growth
🏢protecting and enhancing our assets
🌏climate resilience and environmental sustainability
👥community services
💰funding for Aucklanders' needs.

Essential reading for anyone considering standing for council and helpful for voters as they elect their representatives to tacke these challenges (and more).

https://voteauckland.co.nz/en/information-for-voters/pre-election-report-2025.html

Dog attacks on the increase

Auckland is experiencing a significant increase in dog attacks, aggressive dog behaviour and roaming dog complaints.

From July 2023 to June 2024, Auckland Council received:
⚠️15,146 reports of roaming dogs
⚠️1,253 reports of dog attacks on people
⚠️1,593 reports of attacks on other animals.

Suburbs in the south of Auckland (in particular Manurewa, Ōtara and Papakura) saw the highest number of roaming dog reports, with significant numbers also seen in Henderson and Massey.

Many of these issues stem from irresponsible owners not caring for their dogs and letting them roam freely in public spaces - a small number of irresponsible people are making our public spaces unsafe for everyone and giving dog owners a bad name.

Animal Management is undertaking a range of initiatives including more enforcement officers, more shelter capacity to impound dangerous dogs, and initiatives to increase the level of desexed dogs.

But they can't do it alone and we can all contribute to a safer community so Auckland Council has put together a one-stop-shop for everything dog related. Whether you're need advice on dog safety for kids, exploring off-leash dog parks near you, or learning about dog bite prevention, check out https://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/dogs/

Community clean up in Salford Park

As part of the celebrations for Matariki, the Ōtara Waterways and Lakes Trust organised a community planting day at Salford Park, Flat Bush.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Despite the rain, 28 locals turned up to volunteer including local students and residents. Always great to part of the community efforts to clean up our local waterways.

Howick Local Board attendance at meetings April to June 2025.

As part of providing transparency, Auckland Council publishes the attendance for elected members at business meetings and workshops.

Here is the Howick Local Board result for April to June 2025.

Absences may be due to leave, illness, bereavement or attending other council business.

You can see more (including previous reports, other local boards and councillors) on the Auckland Council website: https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/about-auckland-council/performance-transparency/Pages/attendance-governing-body-meetings.aspx

Road safety dashboard provides transparency

In the past 5 years, 15 people were killed on roads within the Howick Local Board. 162 received serious injuries (requiring medical or hospital care) and 947 received minor injures.

That's too high - in fact New Zealand has the 4th highest rate of road deaths of high-income countries. Accounting for population, NZ has nearly twice as many deaths as Australia and nearly four times the UK.

To help us better understand when and where these crashes are happening, Auckland Transport has created an interactive Local Board Crash Data Dashboard, with data sourced and authorised by NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi's crash analysis system (CAS).

There are some limitations on the data - not every crash is reported. Analysis by Auckland Transport showed more people are admitted to hospital overnight for injuries resulting from crashes than reported in CAS. And there is a delay in the data becoming available. But it's the best data we have and it's used across NZ.

And it's now available for everyone in a user friendly dashboard.

You can filter by year, local board, and type of injury. The data is presented using visual heat map, so you can see the areas where there are more crashes. If you zoom in, you can see the details on each incident.

You can find out more about the dashboard here: https://at.govt.nz/about-us/reports-publications/where-crashes-are-happening-in-auckland

Howick Local Board business meeting summary for June 2025

On Thursday 19 June, the Howick Local Board held our fifth regular business meeting of the year. Here’s a summary of some of the key discussions and outcomes. At the end there are links to the official minutes and recordings of our meetings.

🗣 Deputations regarding parkour, litter intelligence, East Auckland Tourism.
📑 Feedback on tsunami resilience project, waste legislation changes
✅ Approval of quick response grants, reallocation of underspend funds, temporary library for Flat Bush, work programmes for next year, road names
📊 Reviewed lease and landowner approval for Howick Sailing Club

After the initial formalities of the welcome, we noted the declarations of interest and confirmed the previous minutes.

We had a number of acknowledgements:

• Dame Ranjna Patel DNZM on her appointment as DNZM for services to ethnic communities, health, and family violence prevention. A resident of Sunnyhills, she is a multi-award-winning leader and advocate for community wellbeing, whose initiatives have made a lasting impact across New Zealand.

• Professor George Clifton on his appointment as CNZM for services to structural engineering. Howick resident Professor Clifton is an internationally recognised authority on the structural and fire response of multi-storey steel framed buildings and their construction.

• Laurinne Laing on her appointment as MNZM for services to sports and people with intellectual disabilities. A resident of Mellons Bay, Mrs Laing has volunteered for the Special Olympics Howick-Pakuranga club for 35 years, volunteering 30 to 40 hours per week for sports coordination, fundraising, volunteer and athlete recruitment, as well as guidance to athletes and their families.

• Julia Castles on being awarded a Kings Service Medal for services to language education and migrant communities. A resident of Mellons Bay, Mrs Castles has worked for more than 42 years to provide English language tuition and settlement support to refugees and migrants in South Auckland.

• Penelope-Jane Frost on being awarded a Kings Service Medal for services to children and social work. A resident of Bucklands Beach, Mrs Frost has been Auckland Regional Manager for the Stand Children’s Services – Tū Maia Whānau since 2002, having been involved with Stand Children’s Services in various roles since 1978.

• Howick and Pakūranga Toy Library on 30 years of community service. Based at the Howick Presbyterian Church, the toy library works on a membership system with over 200 families involved.

We received a deputation from NZ Parkour presenting opportunities to include parkour facilities in our local area. They had some compelling information about cost effective ways to deliver the first purpose-built parkour in Auckland, and we asked staff to provide advice on options to achieve this.

We then received a deputation from Sam Judd of Sustainable Coastlines talking us through a pilot project that they’d completed to capture the litter and rubbish in Flat Bush. The formal report was due shortly and we agreed to arrange a more detailed discussion once it was published.

We had a quick public forum item from BirdCare Aotearoa, with Dr Rashi Parker providing an update on recent developments including rescues and returns completed in the Howick Local Board area.

Then our third and final deputation from East Auckland Tourism, with Chair Andrew Laing presenting their annual update. It was great to see the range of projects and activities they had delivered over the past year including the launch of their new tourism map.

Every month we allocate a slot for our Ward Councillors to provide an update. Unfortunately, due to scheduling clashes, they are usually unable to attend. To accommodate this, they agreed to provide a written report when there are board-specific updates to share. No report was received for this meeting.

I presented my Chairpersons Report for the month, detailing what we had been focused on since the last meeting. We’d be working hard on our upcoming work programmes, which we’d approve later in the meeting.

We reviewed and approved the responses to the Howick Local Board Quick Response Grants, with forty applications requesting $112k. Unfortunately, some of the groups had not provided the required accountability reporting and were ineligible. We approved 33 applications totalling $64k, with the others declined due to lack of accountability reporting, or low reach.

Next we considered a report from staff regarding reallocation of underspend funds from other projects, including what was left from the grants fund. We allocated it to Pest Free Howick, reducing the burden on our budget for the following year.

In exciting news for Flat Bush, we approved a proposal to open a temporary library service at the Ormiston Town Centre! After nearly 20 years of promises of a community centre and library, we’ve managed to secure $83M over the next 9 years to build these much-needed facilities. However, in the meantime we’ve secured space for 5 years to provide library services sooner. This required a significant investment of $489k in the first half-year and $870k for every subsequent year – we’d spent the last few months working through our stretched budget to squeeze every dollar we could to make this happen.

Next we approved our Community Services and Environmental work programmes for the following year. These provide staff the budget and direction to deliver projects and activities from July 2025 through to June 2026. With only $57k extra in funding and the temporary library requiring significant investment, we were limited in our ability to add new projects. However, we managed to add a few new initiatives to monitor water quality, tackle illegal dumping in Flat Bush, and support community-led environmental action.

We were asked to consider a request to provide a lease and landowner approval for Howick Sailing Club who want to extend their storage building at Howick Beach. However, there was some confusion with the content of the report compared to a workshop, so the Board voted to defer the item to allow time to workshop it again.

We approved road names in Flat Bush, with the extension of Argento Avenue and new road Takarore Crescent.

Auckland Emergency Management has developed recommendations to increase tsunami resilience and asked the public for their feedback. We were asked for our feedback before it goes to the Civil Defence and Emergency Management Committee in September. While there was only four responses from local residents, there was strong support across Auckland (80% supporting all or most of the recommendations). We supported the recommendations, although we noted that the modelling did not seem to consider low lying land.

We noted our urgent decision providing feedback on proposed waste legislation changes. Urgent decisions are used to make decisions outside of the normal Board meetings – not ideal, especially for feedback, but due to government timeframes we had no choice. We supported the move towards product stewardship and greater enforcement of “mismanaged waste”.

We noted our workshop records and forward governance work calendar before closing the meeting at 3:43pm.

Minutes of the meeting are available here:
https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2025/06/20250619_HW_MIN_11593_WEB.htm
along with related attachments like presentations here:
https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2025/06/20250619_HW_MAT_11593_WEB.htm

A recording of the meeting is available here, along with previous meetings: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNiuqKCzobSzQ05kCv2JI2iefmDp2_tEh

Our next normal Business Meeting is scheduled for Thursday 17 July at 12noon at the Pakūranga Library building in Aylesbury Street.

These are open to the public to attend and observe, although you need to request a slot if you would like to speak (so we can make sure we provide time).