Weekly Wrap Up: 24 November 2025

Each week I’m providing a quick summary of the meetings and events I’ve attended as a member of the Howick Local Board (HLB). This is my report for last week, starting Monday 24 November.

On Monday, I attended the Lloyd Elsmore Park User Group quarterly meeting. This informal group is made up of the various groups and clubs who use Lloyd Elsmore Park, sharing challenges and opportunities.

I attended the South/East Public Information Session on Plan Change 120: Intensification on Tuesday night. It was good to have the opportunity to listen to residents of the Howick Local Board and understand their questions and concerns (check out my other post about this event here). Submissions close: Friday 19 December 2025, 5pm and we’ve been advised that there is a session being planned for Howick - details to come shortly. In the meantime, you can find out more, including how to have your say online here: https://akhaveyoursay.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/aucklands-future-housing-plan

On Thursday, we had our Howick Local Board workshop. Again unfortunately most of these were held in closed/confidential sessions so I’m not able to confirm what was discussed for most of the sessions, other than the topics:
- Annual Planning Workshop 2
- Quick Response Grants Round One (this is coming to our next business meeting)
- Business Meeting Preparations

The only open session was where staff presented us an update on the Logan Carr wheeled play project. Thanks to the hard work of East Skate Club, we will have achieved the initial outcomes much sooner than expected. We were presented options to reallocate the remaining funding to other projects - I strongly argued that Botany lacks sufficient opportunities for our youth and this location needs more investment (not less). The Board directed staff to continue developing options to improve opportunities in Logan Carr.

On Saturday we celebrated the opening of the Barry Curtis Park destination playground! Representation from Mana Whenua, stunning weather, and great community turnout made it a fantastic event.

In the afternoon, we attended the Howick Youth Council’s Junior Youth Summit. The annual Youth Summit has been a major event in the Howick Youth Council calendar for many years, but this year their leadership team created a second dedicated event for younger youth, allowing them to tailor it and make it more age appropriate. We were invited to witness the presentations from the attendees, detailing what they’d learned over the day about leadership.

Unfortunately due to poor weather, our planned Stockade Hill Christmas Tree lighting did not go ahead. Look out for an update on the alternative date.

This coming week:
📅Thursday Howick Local Board meeting (see more here https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16MCTDX4y7/)
📅Friday Road Safety Forum, Howick Youth Council Annual Review, Howick Village Christmas Fair