Kia ora koutou, Good evening everyone, and thank you for joining us for our first Annual General Meeting in a while. While we might not have been having community meetings we have been hard at work behind the scenes. And we have kept you all updated on Facebook and in monthly newsletters but tonight it is a delight to get to update you all in person on our core advocacy work. Specifically our fight for safer streets and better connections—and share a reflection on how we, as a community, chose to respond to tragedy with a living tribute to a neighbor we lost too soon.
One of the most significant pillars of our work this year has been the “Safer Speeds” campaign. As many of you know, some of our residential streets were part of the initial 30km/h zones introduced by Auckland Transport in 2020. You can see in this graphic why reduced speeds are so important for keeping vulnerable road users safe.
Early last year, we faced the threat of these safety gains being rolled back. The government proposed reverting many of our local streets back to 50km/h. Based on evidence and expert advice, we felt strongly that this was a backwards step, so we went to work to find out what our community actually thought.
In March 2025, we surveyed our members. The results were overwhelming: 77% of you supported or strongly supported retaining the 30km/h speed limits. This wasn’t just a random number; it matched the original 2021 Auckland Transport consultation almost exactly.
Why does this matter so much? Because these aren’t arterial through-roads; they are the streets where our children walk to Meadowbank School, Mt Carmel, and Meadowbank Kindy, people on bikes connect to the shared path and where our seniors enjoy the surrounding area. On roads where speeds were reduced, deaths and serious injuries have dropped significantly.
We were vocal in our objections with meetings and emails to our local MP, Brooke Van Velden, Auckland Transport and the Orakei Local Board. When it became clear that a central government directive might override local evidence, we developed the “Our Community Chooses 30” sign campaign which you may have seen in the Meadowbank area. Your voice is what gives us standing when we sit across the table from Council officials.
Beyond speed limits, we’ve been advocating relentlessly for better transport choices – especially safer cycleways to link our suburbs together.
We are thrilled to see the Merton Rd West cycleway going ahead, in fact work on it started yesterday. Shout out to Auckland Transport for making it happen. This is truly fantastic news for our area and could well be the most consequential piece of cycling infrastructure in our suburbs since Te Ara Ki Uta Ki Tai.
Why? Because it builds out the emerging network in and around Glen Innes across the “gap” to the quieter residential streets on the next two suburbs.. St Johns and St Johns Park.
This is exactly what is needed to give people of all ages and abilities a safe option to go by bike. Which also means less traffic which is a win for all road users. It’s by no means all that is needed but separated cycle lanes like this are foundational.
It was the collective voice of this community—your emails, and your feedback to AT—that made this happen. We proved that when Meadowbank and St Johns speak with one voice, AT listens.
We were also delighted to attend the sod turning for stage 4 of Te Ara Ki Uta Ki Tai, the Glen Innes to Tamaki Drive shared path and look forward to it opening later this year.
While some call stage 4 the final stage we dont believe the shared path is complete until its full potential is unlocked with the Gowing Drive connection to the shared path. We will of course continue to advocate for the Gowing Drive connection to the shared path to connect 100s of school children with a safe way to walk, cycle or scooter to school along with connecting a large part of our community directly to the shared path.
Because we understand the importance of the way we move around our community and how it impacts our lives we ran a campaign to Vote Transport Choice and sent all Local board candidates questions about their views on a range of transport issues including how they would maximise potential from the shared path and the City Rail Link.
Another significant proposal for Tamaki Makaurau in 2025 was for housing intensification known as Proposed Plan Change 120 , which aims to reshape Auckland’s housing density by focusing growth near transit hubs while strengthening rules for building in hazard-prone areas. There were lots of opinions and coverage in the media so we really appreciated our local Councillor, Desley Simpson offering all Residents Associations the opportunity to hear from her and a Council Planner. We were the only Residents Association to take up this offer and the meeting was opened up to the whole Orakei Ward.
From big issues to small, when what we could put in our kerbside recycling bins changed and caps and lids had to be recycled separately we saw the opportunity to make this more convenient for locals with a collection point at St Chads. So if you didn’t already know you no longer put your lids and caps in the kerbside recycling as they can’t flow through the machine that’s used for sorting the recycling. You can drop them at New World, PNS or right here at St Chads. You can also bring food and beverage cartons here to recycle.
A lot of what the Residents Association does is behind the scenes; emails, meetings and ongoing advocacy but once a week when I come and empty the recycling to take to Tamaki Zero Waste Hub I see a physical result of something we have created. Thanks to St Chads, TWRAP and Tamaki Zero Waste Hub for supporting this initiative.
This brings me to the last but deeply important, part of the last year. In April, our community was shaken by the senseless tragedy at St Johns Road bus stop that took the life of Kyle Whorrall.
Kyle was a 33-year-old PhD student and a brilliant entomologist . His fascination with the ‘smallest creatures’ was not just a career path but a lens through which he saw the beauty and complexity of the environment.
While his passing brought a deep sense of shock and sorrow to our community, it also sparked a remarkable outpouring of love and unity. Seeing this impact I asked for the community’s feedback on ways to remember Kyles life, sparking ideas for lasting ways to honour Kyle — including memorials and encouraging people to create habitats for insects in their own gardens.
At the same time, the Ōrākei Local Board organised a memorial planting of a pōhutukawa tree at St Johns Bush. Councillor Simpson also connected me with AT Board Chair Richard Leggat who arranged for the St John’s bus stop to have a green roof installed. An idea suggested by the community.
In order to create a memorial I contacted Purewa cemetery and Kyles colleagues at Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research. The aim was to share Kyles love for bugs with a wider audience by creating a bug habitat memorial that also shared information about Kyle, his life-long passion for bugs and how people can create bug habitats at home. You can read more about the development of the memorial on our website and visit it here (show map)
Inspired by the development of the invertebrate memorial, Kyles mother Carole wrote and self‑published a children’s book. It is a poem about Kyle, and all of the images are authentic – photographs of Kyle taken over the years, along with pictures of insects.
I recently met Carole who told me ‘“It brings me a lot of peace to see that people are still honouring Kyle and that they care. It’s easy to feel that others have moved on, while I remain weighed down by grief. But this shows that even months later, people still care about and remember him.”
As we look to the year ahead, we have much to do. We will look into what is being done to connect the Meadowbank community to the train station to take full advantage of the CRL, continue to advocate for the Gowing Drive connection, push for the upgrades to the Meadowbank Community Centre to be started and respond to what the community needs when it needs it.
But most importantly, we will continue to be a community that cares where people feel safe, heard, and connected.
Thank you to our committee, the Local Board and to all of you. Let’s keep growing a thriving and vibrant community together. And as always we love to hear whats important to you.
If you would like to support the work the Resident’s Association does please consider becoming a member and supporting the Residents Association for only $15/year.