News

The annual Pourewa Valley Clean Up in Selwyn Bush took place again on Sunday 18th September.

There was almost panic at the disco at organiser Carmel Claridge’s house when the morning’s weather brought high winds and lashing rain – definitely not ideal conditions for clearing rubbish from difficult and exposed terrain. The cooler head of Meadowbank St Johns Residents’ Association Chair Tim Duguid prevailed, and after a check on the weather forecast, the decision to go ahead with the event was made.

Almost miraculously, half an hour before kick-off the skies cleared and out came the sun. Troops assembled at the carpark behind the ASB Stadium, gumboots on and spades at the ready.

We had 32 volunteers turn up to lend a helping hand. We were delighted to see some new faces turning up for this event. Special mention to Piri Enua – decked out in the best ‘work safe’ gear for the day and an absolute godsend when it came to the heavy lifting.

Over three hours our volunteers manhandled sheets of roofing iron, old mattresses, 2 rusty fridges, car wheel axels, and much much more. Two skips were provided for the event courtesy of Waste Management. One was filled with a load of scrap iron which we hope will be usefully recycled. The other took general rubbish, including over 50 sacks of waste.

Unusual items extracted from the bush included an old pedal car and a bike rack.

The event was run as part of Keep New Zealand Beautiful Clean up week and gloves, rubbish sacks and promotional material were provided to assist.

Meadowbank St Johns Residents’ Association provided tea, coffee, and some of the best home baking in town (bakers Julie Robson, Linda McCarthny, and Amanda Nicholas we salute you!)

It was great to see some of our local politicians in attendance helping to do their bit to look after our treasured green spaces. Desley Simpson, our Local Board Chair and aspiring Council candidate, put in a sterling effort as did Local Board candidates David Wong and Dorthe Siggaard.

Friends of Pourewa Chair Carmel Claridge says. “The implementation of the Unitary Plan will increase demands on our recreational facilities – now more than ever, it is really important we reach out to the community to encourage them to get involved in caring for our precious parks. The Pourewa Valley and the regenerating areas of native bush it emcompasses are vital for our well-being. We must never take it for granted.”

We’d like to thank everyone who did their bit to contribute to the success of this event. Please join us again next year and bring your friends & whanau!

Volunteers Craig Reynolds, Bruce Barnett, Piri Enua with Friends of Pourewa Valley committee member Martin Heffer – Filling the 9m3 Waste Managment skip with scrap metal. Well done boys!

Julie Robson, a committee member of Friends of Pourewa Valley, with her daughter Isla enjoying the Clean Up day in Selwyn Bush

We made it into the Milestones page of the East and Bays Courier!

Following publication of the Unitary Plan last month, we compiled a dossier of background information in support of a possible appeal by Councillor Brewer to the re-zoning of the Driveway from Public Open Space (Cemetery) to Mixed Housing (Suburban).

The time period allowed for appeals is now up (other than any that may have made it to the environment court) and to our knowledge, no changes have been made to the zoning of the Driveway.

We expect many residents will be disappointed with this outcome, and notwithstanding that the Driveway is privately owned, will be keen to know what the Purewa Cemetery Trust Board (PCTB) intends.

We are considering how to best to take this matter forward, and look forward to engaging constructively with the PCTB in due course.

Before / after pictures in Unitary Plan

Purewa Cemetery Driveway – before rezoning in Unitary Plan

Purewa Cemetery Driveway – after rezoning in Unitary Plan

Ahead of the 2016 Auckland Council elections (voting closes 8 October), more than 100 people attended an engaging and at times lively evening, organised jointly with our friends at the Mission Bay and Kohimarama Residents Association.

All four Ward Councillor candidates and 13 of the 14 Local Board candidates made their pitches for our votes and answered questions on a range of topics. Many of those present commented favourably on how impressed they were with the way candidates presented themselves and articulated clear, relevant and distinct views on a range of issues.

Questions tabled by the Residents Associations challenged the Councillor candidates to:

• Name the top three things they would try to achieve if elected
• Describe how they would work with others to achieve the best outcomes for Auckland and the Orakei Ward
• Describe how they would secure funding for projects in our area.

Then the Orakei Local Board candidates fielded questions on a range of local issues including:

• The GI-Tamaki Drive Shared Walk/Cycleway (aka the Eastern Path)
• Meadowbank Community Centre upgrade
• Protecting our green spaces
• How they would manage the 20 hours a week commitment that the role demands.

Questions from the floor covered off a wider range of topical subjects including traffic safety and intensification in the Orakei area. The evening ended with mixing and mingling over tea, coffee and home baking, the latter for which we have apparently now become famous! The conversations flowed until well past 10 pm.

Voting is open until 8 October. As we were reminded on the night: “if you don’t vote, you can’t complain!”

Kit Parkinson addresses the crowd at our ‘Meet the Local Candidates’ event. Photo: Desley Simpson

Meadowbank Road is bearing the brunt of increased busy-ness in our area. With two major crashes this month, we look at what’s being done to improve safety on this busy road.

Crashes

As anyone who reads our Facebook page will know, there has been a spate of car crashes on Meadowbank Road recently. We’ve reported on two of them, both involving high speeds; there has been one more in the last few days. And residents on Panapa Drive reported a car crashed into a tree a couple of weeks ago.

These may be coincidental; isolated incidents of dangerous driving. We’re not party to the individual police investigations that may follow. But they serve to highlight a general issue that was raised at our August meeting: namely how to improve road safety and at the same time address the wider transport challenges that come along with intensification of Meadowbank and St Johns and the surrounding suburbs.

Crash on September 1. Photo: Susan Honeybone

Crash on Friday 9 September. Photo: Tim Duguid

Improving road safety on Meadowbank Rd

Specifically in terms of Meadowbank Road, we’ve been advocating to Auckland Transport (AT) along with the Orakei Local Board for safety improvements for two or more years. Many residents have raised these issues in previous years. We understand AT are looking at radar speed signs, pedestrian crossing facilities and other treatments that may result in an improved environment for all users.

Increased traffic due to people driving to Meadowbank train station

Given the increasing numbers of people commuting to the CBD from Meadowbank Train Station, our advocacy for a bus service to connect with the train station is also relevant in this context: everyone heading there by bus would mean one less car. Looking back, there’s been a dramatic change over the years: from barely 50 people a day catching the train on a weekday in 2003 to more than 600 a day in 2016. That’s hundreds more daily peak time car journeys up and down Meadowbank Road, increasing by 15-20% a year. By the time the Central Rail Link opens in 2021, allowing through trips to Aotea Square, K Rd, Grafton and Newmarket, there could be well over 1,000 a day.

And of course traffic continues to grow and incidents happen on other streets around Meadowbank and St Johns too.

Auckland Transport response

AT have an engineer working on the issues. Some measures are being planned. We are working with AT to arrange for them to speak on this and related transport issues at an open meeting in November.

On September 8, Judith Everitt and Sarah Codling from Ray White held a well-attended free community seminar about the Unitary Plan for residents of Meadowbank, St Johns & St Johns Park.

Topics discussed were:

• The difference between zoning and rules
• Zoning for different areas
• Rules within the zones
• Some insight into our ideas of what the future could look like in each of the zones
• Allaying some fears about developer behaviour – particularly reiterating that development is an exercise of meeting the markets needs, and the market does not always want high density
• The Special Housing Area development on the corner of Meadowbank Road, and the Summerset development in Parsons Paddock, using slides approved by the developers.

Judith and Sarah are offering private & home appointments to those who came to the event, but are also happy to extend that to the members of MBSJRA – for anyone wanting to know about the unitary plan, anyone wanting to add value to their home without overspending, or even just to know how the unitary plan has impacted their value or neighbours.

Contact Judith Everitt on 021 2777 844, email , or visit www.juditheveritt.co.nz.

Locals attend the ‘Unitary Plan Unravelled’ event hosted by Judith Everitt – a local resident, geographer and real estate agent.

Great news for local walkers – Auckland Transport (AT) has approved a pedestrian refuge to be installed outside 181 St Johns Rd, outside the St Johns Theological College. The bus stop on the College side of the road will also be realigned as part of this project.

Thank you to all those residents who put in individual submissions to help support our push for a safer pedestrian environment along St Johns Rd. As a Residents Association we have been advocating to AT for improvements to the crossings outside St Johns College since the formation of our Transport subcommittee.

Although AT have not agreed to a zebra crossing, we think this is a step in the right direction, and we’re encouraged to see AT responding positively to residents’ concerns.

See the Feedback Summary for 181 St Johns Rd Pedestrian Refuge and Bus Stop Realignment from AT for full details of the project, FAQs, and next steps.