On Thursday 21 November, 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 recordings of our meetings.
Acknowledgement for Morrin Cooper
Deputations from Ormiston Senior College Students, and East Skate Club.
Feedback on Open Space, Sport and Recreation Strategy, LGNZ electoral reform discussion paper, draft Mayoral Proposal for annual budget.
Approval of the Local Board Emergency Readiness and Response Plan, Quarter One performance report.
After the initial formalities of the welcome, declarations of interest and confirmation of minutes, we confirmed our formal acknowledgement for the month.
We recognised the upcoming 90th birthday of Morrin Cooper, the last Mayor of Howick Borough Council from 1974 to 1989 before it became part of the former City of Manukau.
We received a deputation from Ormiston Senior College Students on Salford Park. A group of Year 11, 12 and 13 students proposed a range of ideas to improve their local park including environmental, safety, and transport challenges. The Board was very impressed by the content and delivery of their presentation, and we asked staff for advice on how we could implement the proposals.
We then received a deputation from Aaron Martin of East Skate Club. Aaron raised concerns about slow progress on providing more skate and wheeled play options in East Auckland. He encouraged the Board to make sure that skate and wheeled play remained a priority and provide more sites across the Local Board area.
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. It noted the progress on Eastern Busway, Bellingham Road, and return of rubbish bins to Bucklands Beach. Also, that there had been no objections to the representation review for our area, reflecting the strong public support during consultation.
We adopted the Howick Local Board Emergency Readiness and Response Plan, providing a formalised document that lays out what Auckland Council and the community should do to prepare an respond to emergencies. We thanked Auckland Emergency Management for their efforts in developing the plan – they’ve worked hard to achieve this priority for us.
We provided feedback on the draft Open Space, Sport and Recreation Strategy, requesting that the strategy better considers the impact on local boards and our increased decision-making. Otherwise, we generally supported the draft which brings together five regional strategies, policies and plans.
We received our Quarter One performance report which detailed the progress up to the end of September 2024. Most of our projects are on time and on budget (95%), with two being managed, two with significant issues (Ostrich Farm, and Flat Bush Community Centre and Library both awaiting funding ) and two on hold (Hawthornden Reserve lease awaiting renewal, Flat Bush walkway and cycleway paths awaiting developer). Our operating revenue ($1.2M) was lower than budgeted largely due to the planned maintenance of Lloyd Elsmore Pool and Leisure Centre, while our operating expenditure was higher than budgeted as our teams work to get ahead of the repairs and maintenance.
Next we considered a grant application that had been deferred from the previous meeting as we’d asked for more information. The request was for $3k towards a community mural on a private building that borders on a public reserve. Some of the Board was concerned about the potential impact on the reserve, which is managed through a separate mural review process. Deputy Burns and I proposed we approve the funding, but the majority of the Board voted to defer the decision again to provide time for staff to provide more information.
Next we appointed members to provide feedback on stormwater activities. As the guardians of local reserves, Local Boards normally have authority to approve (or decline) requests to use greenspaces. However, staff recently clarified that (according to legal opinion) Healthy Waters doesn’t need to ask permission which we disagreed with (see April 2024). Instead, we have a delegated member to provide feedback which will be myself, with Member Kendall as backup. We won’t have any decision-making power and would have to take objections through the Planning and Policy Committee which isn’t ideal.
Next we provided our feedback on Local Government NZ’s discussion paper regarding possible electoral reform for councils across the country. With the decline in postal services and dropping turnout, something needs to be done to address the challenges so it was good to have the opportunity to provide our feedback. We supported greater education, more information for and about candidates (including mandatory training like in Queensland), more voting options, and shifting responsibility for local elections to the Electoral Commission.
Finally we responded to the draft Mayoral Proposal which had been released earlier that week. We broadly supported the proposed reform of the CCOs, except Eke Panuku as we felt that urban regeneration benefited from being independent. Bringing strategy, policy, and planning into council should result in a more integrated approach and we asked that Local Boards are provided more oversight and decision making over what happens in their area. We opposed the suggested increase in animal management fees, with concern that rising costs would lead to less dog adoptions (when the kennels are already overflowing). We also advocated for the Flat Bush Community Centre and Library, Flat Bush Aquatic & Leisure Centre, Coastal Erosion Fund, and a regional response to the Tāmaki Estuary.
We noted our workshop records and forward governance work calendar before closing the meeting at 2:58pm.
Minutes of the meeting are available here: https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2024/11/20241121_HW_MIN_11587_WEB.htm
along with related attachments like presentations here:
https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2024/11/20241121_HW_ATT_11587_WEB.htm
A recording of the meeting will be available shortly, along with previous meetings: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNiuqKCzobSzQ05kCv2JI2iefmDp2_tEh
Our next normal Business Meeting is scheduled for Thursday 12 December 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).