On Thursday 17 August, the Howick Local Board held our business meeting for the month. Here’s a summary of some of the key discussions and outcomes. At the end there are links to the official minutes and a recording of this (and previous) meetings.
Fair warning - this was a long meeting with lots of feedback!
After the initial formalities of the welcome, declarations of interest and confirmation of minutes, we congratulated Bellyful East Auckland on their 10-year anniversary. Over the past decade volunteers have cooked and delivered over 12,000 meals to hundreds of local whānau, providing food, support and aroha for those with babies and young children.
We moved into the deputations with three for this month, starting with Gerald Patterson and Katie Treneman of the Howick Village Association. They presented their new strategic plan and we discussed the opportunities to work together once our own strategic plan (Local Board Plan) was finalised.
Next we heard from Ross Blekinsopp of the Marist Eastern Rugby Club who was supported by Brett Young of Community Asset Solutions, providing their update on their feasibility report for a new sports facility at Barry Curtis Park. We asked staff to provide advice regarding options to move the project forward.
Peter Doone from the Gracechurch Ratepayers Group discussed their recent submission on the draft Future Development Strategy (which we provided our feedback on later in the meeting). The area around Gracechurch Road is currently zoned for Residential Large Lot but was surrounded by much higher density zones. The group wants this historical anomaly resolved and asked the Board to assist with getting answers to questions as to why this couldn’t be changed. We asked staff to see what can be done to assist.
And then into public forum we had Counties Manukau Sport. An opportunity to thank the outgoing CEO Russell Preston for all his work and welcome the incoming CEO Greg Buckley.
We received the written report from our Ward Councillors Sharon Stewart and Maurice Williamson, noting the changes to the Governing Body Committees and Working Groups. Cr Williamson is the chair of the rescoped and renamed Revenue Expenditure and Value Committee, which Cr Stewart also sits on.
I tabled my Chairpersons report which detailed the meetings and events that we’d attended, as well as providing a brief summary of what we’ve been focused on since our last business meeting. Getting the work programmes sorted has been our main priority and I’m pleased we finalised these next.
Our work programmes are the itemised list of all the programmes and events that the staff will deliver on behalf of the Board, including the allocation of budget. With our financial year starting on 1 July, we normally do these before then, but the complicated outcomes of the Annual Budget meant they’d been delayed until July and then the addition of the Kauri Kids decision meant we couldn’t make the final decision until this month. We approved the final funding for Kauri Kids at $48,586 which was much less than the $158,000 we had originally been advised, which allowed us to restore most of the work programme to the level we’d hoped for.
We have two different ways we fund community-led events, usually through our community grants programme where groups can apply. To provide more certainty for regular events we fund some through our non-contestable Event Partnership Fund. In July, the Howick’s Children Charitable Trust asked us to add the Howick Santa Parade to this fund. Given that the Howick Local Board has granted funds this event for at least the last six years and this year was the 70th parade, I felt it was time to provide the certainty they asked we provide. This went to a vote, with one member abstaining. Deputy Burns declared an interest in the item so did not participate in the discussion or vote.
We then finalised the rest of our Customer and Community Services work programme – we’ve continued to fund Arts Out East, Howick Youth Council, local theatres and bands. New items include funding for a dedicated Youth Facility and Programmes, shifting our Celebrating Cultures event to every year and a local crime prevention fund. There was a vote on keeping the Movies in Parks, which did not pass so we won’t have that event this year. We agreed to maintain some funding for Music in Parks although there is more discussion to have on this with staff.
We then finalised our Infrastructure and Environmental Services Work Programme, which will see the continuation of our successful waste minimisation programme in local schools and pollution prevention in both local construction and industry. We also increased the funding for our stream improvement programme and Pest Free Howick.
We then moved into our feedback on the draft Future Development Strategy which sets out the big picture for how and where the city should grow over the next 30 years. This has recently gone out for public consultation and we also had the deputation earlier, providing us with input from the community in addition to the advice from staff. We reaffirmed our previous feedback that development should be focused on areas with suitable infrastructure as well as supporting a greater focus on nature-based infrastructure to respond to climate change. We asked for greater focus on tree coverage, with the suggestion that developers should be required to replace trees with an appropriate amount of new native plantings (not necessarily one for one). We followed up on the deputation from earlier and asked officers to investigate the historic zoning anomalies such as the ones around Gracechurch. We also advocated for greater provision of services such as education, healthcare and transport to serve the growing communities.
After a short break, we provided our feedback on a proposal to accelerate the funding equity between Local Boards. Previously most of the funding was allocated based on the assets that a local board had (ABS: Asset Based Funding), which benefited areas with buildings but was less fair for areas that didn’t have assets. A small proportion (LDI: Locally Driven Initiatives) was allocated based on population and geography. In 2021 Auckland Council’s governing body agreed to shift towards a new formula, with 80% based on the population, 15% based on deprivation and 5% based on geography. The transition was planned over 10-15 years which the new Mayor asked to accelerate to within the next 3-years. There’s also a separate discussion underway about changing the number and size of local boards, which has funding implications. The Board voted to support some of the proposal, but opposed the accelerated timeframes and the formula using deprivation, with the view that facilities should cost the same across the region. I had a different view and requested my dissenting vote be recorded against the parts I disagreed with.
We moved a few items around to allow staff to provide us advice and then leave for other work. We granted a new lease for Te Whānau Tupu Ngātahi o Aotearoa Playcentre Aotearoa- Pakuranga-Rahihi Playcentre. We also granted a new lease for Uxbridge Early Learning Centre.
We then provided our feedback on the Auckland Rail Programme Business Case noting that, while Howick didn’t have a rail line, local residents did access the network at Panmure and Manukau. We supported the proposed investment and advocated for another track on the Eastern Line to enable more passenger and freight services.
Auckland Council is reviewing its Waste Management and Minimisation Plan, updating the plan from the 2018 version. We noted that it was positive to see the progress against domestic and council waste targets, but that the regional target had not been met. We supported the advocacy on the circular economy and product stewardship which has been successful overseas. We asked for quicker action on local community recycling and resource recovery centres which has been talked about for some time. The draft will come out for public consultation in early 2024 before coming back to us for more feedback.
The next three items are still out for public consultation, but due to tight timeframes we were asked for feedback at the same time. The first was the Tāmaki Makaurau Recovery Plan – the direct response to the civil defence emergency that was declared earlier in 2023. While Howick wasn’t as badly effected as other parts of the city, we’ve seen significant flooding in the past. We asked staff to listen and respond to the feedback of everyone who responds, but in particular those who were directly impacted.
In response to the flooding, Auckland Council is rethinking its approach to stormwater management under a new programme called ‘Making Space for Water’. We supported the general idea and specific parts to this plan, which proposes a more proactive approach to managing streams, overland flow paths and other infrastructure. There is a lot of moving parts to this proposal and the funding is yet to be determined.
Also out for public consultation is the Auckland Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Plan. We noted that the previous plan was insufficient and asked staff to ensure that all issues identified in the subsequent reports were resolved through this new plan. The new plan proposes more robust planning and preparation before, during and after events, including empowering communities, which is great to see.
Last feedback item for the day on a new school proposed for 121 Murphys Road in Flat Bush. We provided feedback on the issues regarding transport and traffic, with a particular focus on keeping the children safe. We also asked them to consider the local environment during construction and operation of the school and also to consider the local heritage of the site, with genuine iwi engagement prior to development.
After noting our workshop records and forward work calendar, we received and noted the Quarter Four performance report for the Howick Local Board. Almost all of the programmes and activities have been completed on time and on budget, with a few exceptions (less than 5%). Highlights include the ongoing success of Pest Free Howick, the funding for the Youth Facility and our volunteer programme that has seen 16,240 trees planted. The only project considered having significant issues was our Local Advertising line which wasn’t spent as this was covered by another budget line.
The last part of this report is confidential as it contains the financial performance information and Auckland Council is bound by stock exchange rules around disclosure. The details of this report and all of Auckland Council’s financial performance will be released together in the near future (expected to be on or about 29 September).
Our meeting closed at 4:32pm.
Minutes of the meeting are available here: https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2023/08/20230817_HW_MIN_11573_WEB.htm?
along with related attachments like presentations here: https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2023/08/20230817_HW_MAT_11573_WEB.htm
And a recording of the meeting is available here: https://youtu.be/RwIAGwVTr2c?si=v2LdvUmfn7RBljxe
and previous meetings can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNiuqKCzobSzQ05kCv2JI2iefmDp2_tEh
Our next normal Business Meeting is scheduled for Thursday 21 September at 12noon at the Pakuranga 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).