Upsizing of an already massive Takapuna town centre development won planning consent over the holiday period.
Stretching from the beach-facing site of the demolished former Colmar Brunton building to Hurstmere Rd, the project comprises four tower blocks that range
in height from seven to 10 storeys. The original application lodged in 2023 was for buildings of six to eight storeys.
News that the Colmore development, which includes apartments, hospitality and retail, had been signed off by a planning commissioner on 16 January shocked mem-
bers of the Takapuna Residents Association (TRA) when they learned of it last Friday.
“If I wanted to live on the Gold Coast then I’d move there,” said Sandra Allen, a long-standing resident and TRA committee member.
Milford leaders look to forge post-flood future
Community minded... Milford Residents’ Association committee members (from left) Michael Barr, Lisa Burtenshaw and co-chairs Norma Bott and Debbie Dunsford at the Summer Picnic event on the Milford Beach Reserve last Sunday. Locals were invited to give their views on the suburb’s reshaping two years on from the devastating 2023 floods, as council works on plans for bought-out land. See pages 7-9.
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No plan yet lodged for lava fix after concreting by coastal track
The property owners who damaged ancient lava flows on the coast between Takapuna and Milford have only a week left to come up with a remedy.
The flows are part of the Takapuna Reef Fossil Forest – described as “one of the best examples of lava-preserved forest in the world”.
Around 60 metres of concreting has been done at the seaward side of 19 O’Neills Ave, Takapuna, alongside the Takapuna-Milford coastal walkway.
Last November, Auckland Council’s compliance team ordered the owners of the property to come up with an action plan to remedy the damage.
The deadline for the plan to be lodged is 15 February, council confirmed last week. So far, nothing had been received, a council spokesperson said.
The Takapuna Reef Fossil Forest is protected in the Auckland Unitary Plan as an outstanding natural feature (ONF).
The damaged section “is one of the best preserved and most easily visible stretches of the outstanding natural feature,” said a report by volcanologist Kate Lewis, Auckland Council’s Natural Features specialist.
• Concrete over the top of lava flows, in small lava caves, blisters and segregation vesicles.
• Cobbles cemented together on top of the lava flows, so they can’t be seen.
• Concrete and in some cases stones and shells inserted into small lava caves, lava blisters and segregation vesicles.
“This damage has compromised both the physical and visual values for which the ONF was protected,” Lewis said.
For many decades, educators and scientists had taken thousands of students and national and international visitors to the Takapuna Reef Fossil Forest and cliff lava exposures to show volcanological features, Lewis said.
The volcanic and lava flow processes they preserve and demonstrate provided important scientific evidence of the nature of Auckland’s past volcanic eruptions, and the volcanic processes and hazards that may face the region in the future, Lewis said in her report.
“The damage caused by these unconsented works reduces the ability to decipher and appreciate what was a pristine example of significant volcanic feature,” Lewis said.
In November, the owners of the property told the Observer they would rectify the damage. The concreting had been done to safeguard the public from slips in the area, they said.
“It is possible to see examples of Pupuke volcano lava flows in cross-section, including important and rare examples of features called lava blisters, segregation vesicles, as well as tree moulds preserved in the lava flows,” Lewis said. Damage to the site had included:
Vandals blamed for Sunnynook power cut
A fault in overhead power lines along Trinidad Rd caused a five-hour-long power outage in Sunnynook last Sunday, 2 February.
A Vector spokesperson said the fault was caused by vandalism.
The outage was notified at 11am. It also
cut power to parts of Forrest Hill.
Power was restored progressively from lunchtime until 4pm.
Woolworths Sunnynook said its power came back on quickly without stock loss, but some homes were out for hours longer.
Authorised by Hon Simon Watts, Parliament Buildings, Wgtn.
Local product sticking with winning WBHS recipe
New Westlake Boys High School headmaster Paul Fordham doesn’t have to look far from his desk to see evidence of the success in different fields enjoyed during the 15-year tenure of his predecessor.
In the office vacated by David Ferguson at the end of 2024, a football shirt from the national-title-winning first XI of 2023 and a print by acclaimed artist and Westlake old boy Tony Ogle are among some of the objects proudly displayed.
The artwork and sporting memento help represent the school’s achievements across a range of activities – a track record Fordham aims to continue as he leads Westlake into a new era.
Maintaining the high standards would be a challenge for any incoming principal, but Fordham – an old boy himself – is happy to relate how good things have been. Music, performing arts and sport have all been going well, he says, while academically Westlake has won more NCEA scholarships over the past two years than any other school in New Zealand.
“There’s not a strong appetite (in the school community) for change,” he acknowledges. “The appetite is for continuity, a bit of familiarity, because it’s something that’s working well.”
That said, the school is always looking for ways to improve the curriculum and adapt it to the times, he says.
In recent years, it has introduced entrepreneurial and sporting programmes to help Year 13 students focus on starting careers in business and the sports world.
And this year it has partnered with a game-development company to help students explore future studies and careers in computer science. The initiative is starting as an after-school programme but has the potential to be part of the curriculum.
Fordham is the first former pupil to become headmaster at Westlake. While the facilities and student population have grown markedly since his days there in the early 2000s, he says its traditional values remain.
He says the highlight of his time at school was spending every day with his friends – a pleasure he told his Pasifika form class about when school resumed for 2025 last week.
Even as headmaster he plans to continue taking the class each morning.
Fordham has a particular passion for hockey, having played throughout his time as a Westlake student and been on a school first XI that made a national final.
He still plays when he can, but along with his other hobbies of running and playing acoustic guitar, hockey will take a back seat to his new job.
When he’s not working, Fordham says he spends “every spare moment” with his two preschool children.
His own story is a very local one. He was
born at North Shore Hospital, attended Target Road Primary and Wairau Intermediate School before going on to Westlake and the University of Auckland.
He worked at Rosmini College for 12 years, first as a physical education teacher before moving up the ranks to head of department and assistant headmaster before moving to Westlake as a deputy principal in 2022.
Fordham says he didn’t have a clear direction when he left school, but decided to follow his passion for sport by pursuing a physical education degree.
Finding he “absolutely loved” teaching led him to making a career in a field he hadn’t originally seen as a long-term option. Being given responsibilities early on – and accepting them – led to management positions he also enjoyed.
Fordham says he likes organisation and order – something perhaps reflected in his short back and sides haircut, fitted suit and pristine white shirt.
He takes pride in finding ways to improve systems to better serve the people involved in them. “I didn’t embark on this journey anticipating becoming a headmaster from the get-go, but I very quickly learned that that’s something I was passionate about.”
His new role is his “dream job”, an oppor-
tunity to serve a school community he feels deeply connected to.
As its community becomes more diverse, the school’s obligation is to change with it, he says. “We’ve got to reflect our community, and the community’s ever-changing.”
In 2013-14, Fordham taught at a private girls school in South West London, something he says made him appreciate New Zealand education more.
While some national achievement data might be disappointing, he believes New Zealand schools are set up to serve their students, who have a range of backgrounds and passions. “Education is more than what we can measure,” he says.
Dream job... New Westlake Boys headmaster Paul Fordham and (below) in his Westlake hockey uniform as a junior student in 2001
Business group welcomes development upsizing
From page 1
TRA chair Steven Salt said he was still digesting the lengthy decision and its supporting documents. The group would meet to discuss the decision.
“The main concern is the impact shading will have on the reserve and whether the extra height is appropriate to the Hurstmere Rd environment in terms of wind and sun and what wind would occur on the Strand itself.”
The development height exceeds those usually permitted in the Metropolitan Centre Zone under the Auckland Unitary Plan.
Allen said some committee members were wondering about challenging aspects of the Auckland Council resource consent granted to developer HNS DS Ltd. The only avenue for this is seeking a judicial review at the High Court.
Salt said reviews were very expensive.
“Obviously there’s disappointment that the [Auckland] Unitary Plan hasn’t been complied with.”
But Takapuna Beach Business Association chair Terence Harpur welcomed the decision bringing greater intensification.
“Its great to see the old run-down and empty building demolished, and a new development approved, bringing with it new restaurants, shops, 400+ car parks, homes and upgraded laneway connections.
“This continues the significant investment in Takapuna over the recent years by private enterprise, as well as Auckland Council,” Harpur said.
Council’s premium resource consent team said the reasons the extra height was approved were set out in the commissioner’s decision, which found the overall form, mass and height of the buildings would result in no more than minor adverse shading, dominance or character effects on the wider environment.
Takapuna Beach playground was already subject to shading from pōhutukawa trees to the west, duty commissioner Richard Blakey said in his decision.
The consent team said: “Any shadowing effects generated by the proposal on neighbouring persons will be comparable and similar to that generated by a building of compliant height and setback, and therefore its adverse effects onto any persons in relation to loss of daylight and sunlight are less than minor.”
Compared to zone heights, the development would create up to an additional 12 minutes of shading between November and January, with no difference between February and October, the team said.
Non-compliance to height and setback and other standards were said to be minimised by the design of buildings, which were staggered and had space between then. This meant the development would be generally consistent with the outcomes anticipated by
to
Revamped plan rises to 10 storeys
The Colmore development of four tower blocks in Takapuna takes in sites at 21, 31 and 33-45 Hurstmere Rd and 6-10 the Strand.
The proposal includes demolishing existing buildings at 21 and 31 Hurstmere Rd, which includes the McKenzies and Commons buildings.
The complex will occupy a site bordered by Hurstmere Green and council car-parking on the Strand.
Four blocks containing 213 apartments, ground-floor commercial activities and three levels of basement parking will be built.
The tallest buildings are up to 10 storeys, reaching 35.11m, 34.88 and 34.2m. The tower closest to the sea (pictured) is the lowest at seven storeys
the zoning. A pedestrian easement through the development connected The Strand to Hurstmere Green and Channel View Rd.
The team also noted Auckland Transport, Watercare and Healthy Waters had accepted the planning proposals as appropriate for
HON
or 26.25m. On the Hurstmere Rd boundary the development will easily exceed the maximum frontage height of five storeys. The complex totals 24,953sqm of residential floor area and 2650sqm of retail floor area.
vehicle movements and wastewater and stormwater capacity.
Consent approval included conditions for infrastructure to service the development and to maintain overland flow paths through the site.
SIMON WATTS
MP for North Shore
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Please email northshore@parliament.govt.nz to make an appointment, or call 09-486 0005.
Development site... The ASB building at top left of the site is to remain while blocks rise
the south and east. Below: An image of the seaward block.
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Flood Recovery
Wairau flood-resilience plans coming soon
A clearer idea of Auckland Council’s plans for the flood-prone Wairau catchment is expected to emerge next week.
A business case for stage one of a flood resilience project will be presented to council’s transport and infrastructure committee on 13 February.
As well as “daylighting” of streams and possible widening of culverts, longer-term stages look to include use of Thomas Park, home of Takapuna Golf Course, as a detention pond in times of flood. The aim is to slow the release of water into the Wairau Creek flowing out to sea through Milford.
A similar detention pond approach was taken in Sunnynook, where park lowering was completed in 2020 to provide a sink during high rainfall to lessen local flooding.
Council is also exploring what to do with Category 3 residential land it owns from property buyouts, including coming up with a draft framework of how decisions are made. In Milford this looks set to involve more than 100 homes, mostly in the Nile Rd, Alma Rd vicinity.
Subject to risk assessment, options include use for stormwater management or as park land. “We need to manage community expectations about what activities are permitted, with safety being our number-one priority,” said Tamaki Makaurau group recovery manager Mace Ward.
Council is underwriting community-led events to rebuild morale and gain input on how residents would like neighbourhoods reshaped.
A first step was taken last Sunday, when the Milford Residents’ Association (MRA) hosted a picnic day at the Milford Beach reserve.
Takapuna North Community Trust and emergency services also set up stands to provide information on flood resilience. Trust staff said for some people the memories of 27 January 2023 were still very raw.
Other residents treated the day as a get together, picnicking, listening to music by North Shore singer Serene Boulton and watching children play.
The Milford Cruising Club took the op-
portunity of holding an open day and did steady trade in ice creams.
A collection of historic photographs compiled and recently added to by MRA co-chair Debbie Dunsford was a popular drawcard, showing Milford through the decades, including shots of earlier flooding.
Dunsford said the day was a “soft launch” for what would be a series of workshops. She hopes more people will join in to offer their ideas for the expected open space around the creek.
“It’s kind of like a more connected community exercise,” she said. “It’s a great opportunity for Milford.”
Around 35,000 leaflets had been delivered to let people know they could have a say. The number indicated significant intensification in Milford, she said.
The MRA and a council facilitator will advise of further “have your say” events.
Across the North Shore, as well as three properties already removed from Milford, two have gone so far from Birkenhead, and four each from and Bayview.
History sadly repeats... These old photographs from Auckland Libraries Heritage Collection show parts of Milford flooded by the Wairau Creek in July 1953. The image at right looks northwest from near the Nile Rd and Alma Rd junction, with homes on the hill rising to Quebec Rd on the ridge. The same lower area was impacted two years ago.
Clusters of bought-out Milford houses slated to go
Removal of severely flood-prone homes in Milford will be done in groups over the coming months.
Auckland Council has decided on dealing with the houses in clusters rather than individually, given the high number qualifying for a property buyout due to future risk to life.
In Milford that total had reached 112 homes assessed as Category 3 properties by the end of January. Of these, owners of 59 of the homes had so far received buyout offers and 51 had accepted.
Before Christmas, council contractors removed the first three homes in the suburb, in Nile Rd and Alma Rd. Removal work has been on hold since, although assessments continue.
Council’s Tamaki Makaurau group re-
covery manager, Mace Ward, said: “We are taking a cluster model approach, starting removal when a good number of neighbouring properties are ready. Where there are cross-leases and unit titles, we have to wait until we are settled with all on the section before we can action disconnections across the sections.”
Across Auckland more than 100 homes have been removed to date, with the total expected to reach around 1200, including a small number in multi-units, where some homes may no longer be occupied.
Ward said Milford had the most homes registered for risk assessment of any suburb, outside of Muriwai where area-wide studies were done.
Buyouts accepted in other suburbs in the Wairau catchment include five in Sunny-
nook and three in Forrest Hill, with a small number more to be decided.
Ward said on average the buy-out period was shorter than the standard home purchase process.
Timing of the process was 80 per cent driven by homeowners, he said.
“We try to be flexible where needed, while still being fair across the whole programme. However, we do have access to this budget for a limited time, so we can’t slow down too much.”
Relocation of bought-out homes is council’s first choice, to reduce waste to landfill. So far, more than 30 per cent of homes have been moved to locations across the upper North Island. Others are taken apart for reuse of materials through recycling centres where possible.
Monkeying about... Ross Karl, host of Aotearoa Rugby Pod on Sky Sport, with his son Eden ter Ellen, and his brother Gareth’s girls Charlotte and Isabelle, all aged five, playing at Milford Beach Reserve. For Gareth, tough decisions loom, because he is awaiting a council flood buyout offer for his Nile Rd home that may decide if he can afford to stay in the area. Ross and his wife, former television presenter Janika ter Ellen, live out west.
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Community focuses on sunny side of Milford life Flood Recovery
Long-time Milford couple Alan and Dianne Jones (above) and fellow local Murray Pearson (right), with grand-children Frankie (4) and Leo (1) visiting from Bayswater. The adults set up chairs to enjoy the sun and music at the Milford Summer Picnic, which was organised to draw people together after the devasting Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods of just over two years ago. The Joneses said the damage had been shocking, both to homes and to businesses in the Wairau Valley – like nothing they had seen before in the area. They wanted culvert maintenance by council stepped up. But they were in no doubt that Milford was still the place to be.
Aussie bound: Local board chair bows out
Devonport-Takapuna Local Board chair Toni van Tonder is stepping down because she is moving to Australia with her family.
It is unclear whether the vacancy this will create on the six-member board will be filled ahead of the local body elections held by postal vote in September and October.
Options available to board members for replacing a departing member range from not filling the vacancy to offering it to the highest-polling unsuccessful candidate from the 2022 elections or choosing another qualifying person under council guidelines.
Van Tonder, whose Devonport home went to auction this week, said the board’s business meeting on 18 February would be her last as chair.
Her husband, an architect, had been offered an exciting work opportunity in Brisbane before Christmas, she told the paper. While it was not her preference to cut short her term on the board, she had put family needs first. These included her children starting at new schools.
“I’m definitely sad to say goodbye. However, I know that I will be leaving a competent board who will continue to work collaboratively and with dedication for the benefit of the community for the final six months of the term,” she told the paper.
Deputy board chair Terence Harpur said he would take the role of acting chair. He expected van Tonder to attend the board’s first workshop this week remotely, before being back for the second workshop held the week before the monthly business meeting.
Board members would vote to fill the role of chair once van Tonder’s resignation is tabled. This must be done within 30 days and the Observer understand a vote is likely most likely to take place at the March meeting.
Harpur was relaxed about waiting for this.
But board member George Wood was unhappy with the uncertainty around timing and whether van Tonder would be replaced.
“It’s unfair to others if we’re just going to sit on the sideline and not know what’s going on.”
Wood said the seventh-placed candidate in 2022, Mike Single from Hauraki, who stood with Wood on the Citizens & Ratepayers
Wood and Busch have confirmed they will seek re-election, with Harpur saying he is likely to stand and Powell the same. Allen did not wish to state his intentions yet.
Van Tonder said she had always intended to run only twice for the board. “I think good leaders hand over to new leaders. I was happy to bring three new people to the table on my ticket.
“This is a community job and we need to make space for new people from within the community to participate in local governance.”
Before she was first elected to the board in 2019, van Tonder had a spell as Devonport Business Association manager and was for one year a teacher at Takapuna Grammar School during the early days of her 15 years living in the area. She also worked in environmental protection.
Her first term – as part of Takapuna businessman Aidan Bennett’s team – was at a time when meetings were often fractious due to divisions between Bennett’s block and the Heart of the Shore team.
The chair’s role passed from Bennett midterm to Ruth Jackson, who along with fellow Heart of the Shore members Jan O’Connor and Trish Deans, was not re-elected in 2022.
Deans polled just behind Single, with Zane Catherall of A Fresh Approach the next most popular unsuccessful candidate.
Van Tonder’s time as chair has seen the board run more smoothly.
A less polarised board has worked well together, dealing with council budget cuts and unanimously making tough decisions
11:30 am to 3:00pm
Toni van Tonder
Approval given for $330k repair of Kennedy Park stairs
Go-ahead to rebuild the Kennedy Park stairs in Castor Bay has been given with the caveat that another washout may not bring a further fix.
The lower portion of the stairs to the beach, smashed during Cyclone Gabrielle in February 2023, are to be repaired in the second half of the year at a cost of around $330,000, partly covered by insurance.
The hope is to have the stairs reopened by next summer.
The Castor Bay Ratepayers and Residents Association last month welcomed the repair it has lobbied for, noting the stairs were particularly popular with locals walking their dogs or exercising.
In recommendations passed at its December business meeting, the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board added the rider that it may not have the resources to keep repairing the stairs.
“We need to make clear we can’t keep doing it, “ said board chair Toni van Tonder. This came after Auckland Council staff indicated council continuing to insure the stairs or getting consents to replace them would be problematic.
Officers’ advice was against replacement, after earlier favouring a more expensive $980,000 option with considerable cliff stabilisation work.
Three options were considered, with council’s northern operations manager Sarah Jones saying the mid-priced of three options was “safe enough – hopefully”. This would see washed-out bottom rungs replaced and foundations into bedrock protected. A cheaper option of $90,000 to permanently remove the stairs altogether was described as a waste of money by deputy chair Terence Harpur. Although the stairs had previously been repaired, damage had not always been caused by floods or wave action, he pointed out. Fires and vandalism had also forced repairs previously.
Board member George Woods said staff were swinging from one option to the other. He wanted to put on record that in a report to the board in August they had preferred the more costly option or the demolition of the stairs, which he did not support.
Jones said while the most expensive option was the safest, support for it had fallen away after further investigations.
Barracks spruce-up finally on way
Approval to spend around $790,000 on the old military barracks building at 139 Beach Rd in Castor Bay will see just its dilapidated exterior fixed.
The heritage listed building in Kennedy Park has been left to deteriorate, partly due to the high cost of restoration, but its status means it cannot be demolished.
Devonport-Takapuna Local Board members have voted to bite the bullet and fix what has become an eyesore that has long prompted community calls for action.
The fence will be removed and in time signage erected to explain the signficance
of the World War II barracks, which was designed to look like a house.
Members decided at their final meeting last year that fixing the exterior was all they could afford for now, but this left open the option of work on the interior later.
Without enough funds or a clearly identified community need for the building, they decided it was not justified to spend more. In the future, a commercial tenant might be found who would be willing to do an interior fit-out, they suggested.
The board has asked council staff to proceed with seeking tenders to do the work.
It was decided a fix would not guarantee the stairs would be there for a long time. There was also insufficient funding for the most expensive option.
Jones said an insurance payout would help with option two if the board decided it wanted to keep the stairs open, with $192,000 expected from council’s flood recovery fund.
“The structure of the stairs is good,” she said. The problems were with extreme rain and some stormwater work might help.
The stairs would be regularly checked for safety, she said.
A gate at the top would enable council staff to close access to the stairs when storms were coming. The foundations would be checked afterwards. The board has also recommended signs saying the stairs are used at people’s own risk.
Van Tonder said it was “a tricky one” with board members looking to balance community needs with the risks and history of failure at the site. Without insurance she was not sure the same decision would be made.
“It’s a political decision to reopen them.”
Enter the Dragon: locals
The annual Chinese festival at Takapuna Beach Reserve attracted big crowds last Sunday for a sunny start to the Year of the Snake
Weekend attraction... Winnie and Jay McEneaney (left) said they were drawn to the festival by the food and cultural celebrations. Right: Misha Bowering and Moon Lee with Sofya Bowering and Yulia Maksimova (foreground), visiting the festival market.
celebrate Lunar New Year
Culture on show... Entertainers prepare, rehearse and perform for spectators. (Above right) Xinze Hu
who has lived in New Zealand for eight years, with her parents Yongwei Hu
and Xiaoying
who were visiting from China for the festive period.
(centre),
(left)
Yu (right),
Council rubbish bin collection changes
Aucklanders on the North Shore will no longer need to use prepaid bin tags from 3 March 2025 as council rubbish collections will be funded by residential property rates.
The North Shore is moving from pay-as-you-throw collections to rates-funded as part of a regionwide move towards a standardised waste service for Auckland.
Auckland Council General Manager Waste Solutions Justine Haves says that standardising waste services across Auckland will give everyone access to the same service and at the same cost, wherever they live.
“Having everyone on the same collection services, including recycling and food scraps, gives us the best chance to influence waste minimisation and reduce emissions as we work towards Auckland’s goal of zero waste by 2040,” says Ms Haves.
“We want to do what is best for the environment while keeping
CONTACT US: aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
FOLLOW US: Facebook.com/devonporttakapuna
costs for Aucklanders as low as possible. A universal ratesfunded rubbish collection helps us to deliver a more consistent and cost-effective service and makes it easier to engage with Aucklanders on how we can all reduce waste.”
“A regionwide rates-funded service will also be less expensive than keeping two different systems in place or switching everyone to pay-as you-throw,” says Ms Haves.
The targeted rates charge for a property’s rubbish collection will depend on the size of the bin. With a choice of three bin sizes,
Rural rubbish options
Aucklanders can choose the size that best meets their individual household’s needs.
“Prior to the introduction of the food scraps collection, waste audits found that up to half of the weight of rubbish bins consisted of food scraps. By using your food scraps bin and recycling bin correctly, most Aucklanders will find that a smaller rubbish bin than they have now will work for them,” says Ms Haves.
Bin tags will be accepted on council bins until Friday 28 February on the North Shore.
After this date, North Shore residents can get a refund from local libraries for any unused bin tags for a limited timefrom Saturday 1 March 2025 to Wednesday 30 April 2025.
Anyone living in a rural zone who would like to continue using bags should email ratesfunded@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz. Rural residents will still have options on the number of waste bags they would like to use, depending on their household requirements, and this is reflected in the targeted waste rate for each household. For more information, including how to request a refund for unused bin tags, please visit aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/ratesfunded
Duo primed for Super season – and possible club stint
As the new Super Rugby Pacific season looms, Lochlan Lineham talks to a pair of local brothers aiming to help Moana Pasifika find success on their North Shore home turf
As Moana Pasifika players Fine and Lotu Inisi prepare for the upcoming Super Rugby season, they aren’t ruling out getting some games in for Takapuna Rugby Club later this year.
The brothers, aged 26 and 25, have been training hard at Moana’s North Harbour Stadium base, and are focused on winning more games in a strengthened squad.
The franchise hauled itself off the bottom of the ladder in last year’s competition, winning four games to finish ahead of the Waratahs, having previously taken the wooden spoon in their inaugural 2022 season, recording two wins, and again in 2023 when they won just once.
Hopes are high that the arrival of All Black star and newly named Moana captain Ardie Savea from the Hurricanes will help set the side up for greater success this year than in previous seasons.
Both the Inisi brothers have endured Moana’s tough early years so are understandably keen to help the team step up a level in 2025.
They haven’t forgotten about their club side, however. If the timelines are right, they’d like to be back in blue and gold in time for the North Harbour playoffs, when Takapuna will be out to stop rivals North Shore from winning a third title in a row.
“We might make a surprise comeback just so North Shore doesn’t win,” says midfielder Fine with a smile.
Lotu, a loose forward, says if Takapuna make the playoffs the duo can usually play from the quarter finals to the final.
But due to their international commitments for Tonga last year the brothers could only watch the final, before flying out to play Samoa in Apia.
Lotu and Fine both went to Westlake Boys
Ready for action... Tongan internationals Lotu
and Fine Inisi are focused on Moana Pasifika for now, but have strong bonds with Takapuna
High School and enjoyed their time there. The supportive nature of their peers and teachers combined with the discipline they learned has been beneficial to their careers and life, they say.
When their father was made redundant, then-headmaster David Ferguson offered him a job as caretaker, which helped the family through a tough time.
The brothers still live on the North Shore which they say has the bonus of beautiful beaches and walking trails.
“We get the luxury of enjoying the outdoors without having to travel too far”, Fine says.
That’s a sentiment shared by Moana half-
back Aisea Halo, another Tonga and Takapuna player. He regularly visits the beach for recovery or with his one-year-old son.
Halo, who is 31, says joining the Takapuna club helped him find enjoyment in his football again. He says then coach Aaron Katipa – “uncle Aaron” – helped him out and backed him to play the way he wanted.
He says his main goal is consistent game time with Moana, which is again coached by former All Black captain Tana Umaga. If the opportunity arises to play some club football Halo says he’ll be “more than keen.”
• Moana Pasifika’s first Super Rugby game of the year is away against the Force in Perth on 15 February.
Milford / Takapuna Tides
4:34am5:04pm
11:37am11:59pm 5:12am5:41pm
(left)
Rugby Club
TAKAPUNA | 4A/6 THE PROMENADE Elegance in the Heart of Takapuna
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Leading school athletes enjoy summer triumphs
Local secondary school athletes had a successful summer, with individuals snaring national titles and teams competing hard at big tournaments.
Westlake Girls High School’s Karmen Maritz won the senior girls discus at the National Secondary Schools Track & Field Championships in Timaru in early December and has been in club action over the holidays.
Her 44.75m winning throw for her school put her ahead of a local rival in second-placed Kate Hallie of Takapuna Grammar School, who threw 43.96. The placings were reversed in the senior girls 3kg shot put, however, which Hallie won throwing 14.98m. Maritz’s 14.61m secured second place.
Westlake Boys High School sportsman of the year Tai Rhodes won the senior boys pole vault at the championships, with a winning vault of 3.95m – 40cm ahead of the runner-up.
Another Westlake Boys student, Thomas Evitt, won the junior boys 4km road race with a time of 12.44 minutes.
Westlake Boys’ first XV rugby side made the trip to Abu Dhabi to compete at the World Schools Festival, finishing third in a competition they won the previous year. Westlake beat England’s Harrow 22-5 and Llandovery College from Wales 21-5 before going down 7-11 to South Africa’s Paul Roos Gimnasium. They beat England’s Millfield College 26-12 in the third-place playoff.
Westlake’s first XI cricket side finished third at the Secondary School Boys First XI Cup at Lincoln University in mid-December.
The Auckland champions got off to a good start at the Secondary School Boys First XI Cup at Lincoln University beating St Paul’s Collegiate by one wicket on the opening day. They won two further matches and drew another, but suffered a four-run loss to eventual champions Christchurch Boys’ High School, settling for third place.
Westlake cricketers Jordan Van Zyl, Ethan Holman and Luke Harrison helped the Auckland U19 Men’s team to their second consecutive title at the National U19 Tournament in Lincoln last month.
Title-winners... Westlake Girls’ Karmen Maritz (above) won the senior girls discus and Westlake Boys’ Tai Rhodes (below) the senior boys pole vault at the secondary school nationals
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PHOTOS: MARIO OOSTENDORP
Briefs
Tokyo Bay car clue
Police believe they have located the vehicle that was used by offenders in an armed robbery at Tokyo Bay restaurant in Takapuna last month. No arrests have been made yet, but the vehicle has been forensically examined and police say investigations are progressing. Five staff working on 19 January were left shaken when two robbers brandishing hammers entered around 9.30pm, causing damage and fleeing with till takings.
MP given new roles
North Shore MP Simon Watts gained two new portfolios in the Cabinet reshuffle last month. The Climate Change Minister had Energy and Local Government added to his duties. “Both areas have significant reform agendas and will play a major role in enabling New Zealand’s economic growth,” he said. The second-term MP is also Revenue Minister.
Size anomaly fears
The case for rebalancing the North Shore and Albany local-body ward sizes was put to the Local Government Commission by two Devonport-Takapuna Local Board members this week. George Wood and Gavin Busch presented board feedback seeking fairer representation, saying size imbalance also had funding implications.
No fast-track for developer’s Devonport makeover
Peninsula Capital’s plans for the Devonport town centre continue on a slow burn, with “high-level” concepts being worked on.
That reality is in contrast to the heat Peninsula faced after the New Zealand Herald revealed last month that the company had applied to the government to fast-track the $400 million project, potentially including 103 apartments.
Keyboard warriors soon took to social media, criticising Peninsula for failing to consult locals and worried about heritage protection for historic buildings, while others were asking when they could buy an apartment.
Peninsula Capital did apply under the Fast-track Approvals Bill on 9 July, documents show. However, the company was notified on 5 October that it had been turned down – a fact not mentioned by the Herald.
Peninsula director Mark Hiddleston said the firm would have been “stupid not to try” to be included on the fast-tracking programme. But, in reality, it was only “filling in a form and ticking some boxes”, he said. Figures supplied about the project’s cost and scope were only indicative. “There was no hidden master plan or detailed designs,” Hiddleston said. They did not exist yet.
“We applied. We did not get through. Full stop.” The project was viewed as not
“strategically important to the government”.
The furore created by the Herald story had meant Peninsula Capital had to contact its tenants reassuring them of their future occupancy.
Its team of engineers, planners and heritage experts were still working on the history and archaeology of the town centre to make choices on development options.
Hiddleston said the very reason Peninsula purchased more than a dozen buildings in Devonport was because of its heritage and the potential to reinvigorate the town centre. It made no sense to compromise the area with inappropriate development. However, the post-Covid recession meant Peninsula was being cautious; costs and financial feasibility had to be closely considered.
Small steps had been made: the Depot had taken over the former council building on the main street and was running a gallery downstairs with artists’ spaces above, after the building had been unoccupied for about five years.
The company’s commitment to consult locals and protection groups such as Devonport Heritage had not changed, Hiddleston said. Peninsula Capital still had a long-term aspiration to regenerate the Devonport town centre to be as vibrant as parts of Sydney and St Kilda in Melbourne.
Iwi’s big plan: street of new homes in Hauraki
Stage one of a large housing development in Hauraki will add 61 dwellings to the area behind the local primary school.
The property arm of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, Whai Rawa Development, has applied for Auckland Council consent to build on land it owns on both sides of Marsden St. The application covers around 1.85ha, with the street also having some privately owned homes.
The Marsden St development will create a mix of free-standing, duplex and terraced homes for public sale, replacing older, mostly single-storey former Navy housing. In contrast with recent apartment-style developments on the Devonport Peninsula, many of the new homes will be family-sized.
Whai Rawa’s chief executive, Grant Kemble, said all homes would be for sale on the private market. Pricing would be decided by
those looking to find a new home while staying in the area, or those wanting to move into this sought-after location.”
The consent application proposes a fivestage build, providing 31 four-bedroom homes, 24 with three bedrooms and seven with two bedrooms, with one to three levels. Each home will have at least one off-street park.
An existing pedestrian path connects Marsden St to Hauraki Primary School. The school is the largest primary on the Devonport Peninsula, with around 460 students, in a growing suburb which the Census shows is the most diverse on the peninsula.
Kemble said Whai Rawa was already in conversations with the school and the Ministry of Education.
“We will look to engage more broadly to ensure the development integrates with
ing intensification in the area meets new government-driven zoning rules, planners deciding on the application will need to consider its impact on Shoal Bay, a Significant Ecological Area, and also coastal erosion and height variation matters.
The application details landscaping, services and rubbish disposal plans and a transport assessment which estimates the new homes will generate about 30 additional trips during the morning and evening commuter peaks and a total of 352 trips a day.
It also includes a proposal to top up the existing esplanade reserve to the full 20m width, to provide sufficient public access and for conservation of coastal ecological values.
The planning application says designers have deliberately oriented homes backing onto the school to minimise overlooking
Existing council zoning allows up to three dwellings per site as of right, meaning as many as 63 homes could be built across
The application is now with council planners, pending a decision. It follows two pre-application meetings in 2024 with council staff.
In December, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei announced it was selling 5.7ha of land centred on Hillary Cres off Eversleigh Rd in the neighbouring suburb of Belmont. Summerset Group intends developing this as a retirement village of nearly 300 homes.
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Director Arlo Feeney (above) from Castor Bay and (right) some of the student cast of Clue: Hunter Wilson (who played Mr Green), Alastor Spear (Colonel Mustard), Iasonas Newson-Grigorakis (Professor Plum), Zoe Turner (Ms Peacock), Layla Sofia-Whiteside (Ms Scarlet) and India Smyth (Ms White)
Teen theatre director has more than a few clues
A group of talented current and former Westlake students spent a good chunk of summer rehearsing an old-school whodunnit play staged at the Rose Centre in Belmont this week.
Clue on Stage, based on the board game Cluedo, was an entertaining romp with the sort of characters Agatha Christie lovers could relate to.
The enthusiastic teenagers – spearheaded by 18-year-old first-time director Arlo Feeney (pictured), who has been acting since childhood – put together a slick and affordable show. Its staging in New Zealand was a first, inspired by Clue, a movie from 1985, which overseas is something of a cult classic.
“Everyone knows the board game, right,” says Arlo, who says he learned of the “really fun film” of the game from a friend. He immediately thought it would make a good play too, later finding out there was already a stage adaptation to which he secured rights. (In the United States, the game Cluedo is known as Clue, hence the name of the film, which included Rocky Horror star Tim Currie and other character actors of the day. The play shares the Clue name, whereas Cluedo is more familiar terminology in the United Kingdom and here.)
The murder mystery’s setting made it particularly appealing to stage, Arlo said. “Everything takes place in one location, in the one house. It’s tense and funny.”
He gathered a cast and crew of around 16 people, all aged from 16 to 18, drawn from students involved in plays and musicals put on by the drama and music departments of
Westlake Girls and Boys High Schools. The schools combine each year for large-scale productions.
A few of the school-leavers are going on to study drama at university, including Arlo himself, who is undertaking a double major in drama and media at the University of Auckland. Madoc Bradley-Bridge, who played the role of butler Wadsworth, is bound for the South Seas Film School.
Auditions for Clue on Stage were held last May, with the idea of staging the play after final senior school exams, but with pre-Christmas proving such a busy time, an early 2025 slot proved a better bet.
Arlo had to convince his chums to be in town over the high summer lead-in to the three-night season, but he says they were keen to cap off their high-school drama days together before the Year 13 leavers dispersed for tertiary studies and younger students returned to class. After a December break, they resumed rehearsals.
Arlo found directing a learning experience, and self-funding and organising the play was a challenge. Arranging a suitable venue, costumes, lights and publicity all had to be considered. “There’s a lot of responsibility; when you’re an actor you just worry about your part.”
Arlo’s parents – professional actor Peter Feeney, a familiar face on New Zealand screens, and magazine graphic designer Nicola Feeney, who lent her skills to Clue on Stage’s striking poster – were encouraging. So too, the head of drama at Westlake Boys, Dr Nick Brown.
But Arlo had to raise more than $2000 for
the venue and rights to the play.
A crowd-funded Kickstarter campaign and support from sponsors and the families of cast and crew made this possible. The students sold tickets at local markets.
Arlo, who lives in Castor Bay, said the intimate Rose Centre theatre fitted the bill as a venue, seating 110 people.
He sees his foray into directing as an extension of his passion for acting, which he hopes to pursue further.
He is off to a good start, having clocked up screen credits since he was seven or eight years old. Appearances include as a zombie kid in 2016, in the Ash vs Evil Dead television series, and as the lead in the pilot of Blind Bitter Happiness, a TV series his father devised that screened in 2023 but began as a Covid project.
“There was no push, but Dad being an actor made me want to do it,” he says.
Arlo has a guest role coming up in The Brokenwood Mysteries in May, in which he is one of a group of teens who become crime suspects during a school camp.
At school, he took the lead in The Government Inspector in 2002, played Orlando in As You Like It in 2023, then last year had a main role, as Aramis in The Three Musketeers
He also enjoys shooting and editing video. He is particularly drawn to the subtlety of screen roles, saying: “Film often times zooms in very still on your top half; you show things through your face. That was why Clue was a nice change of pace for me, because I usually do things that are realistic.”
New performing-arts group continues Bray legacy
The gap in children’s performing-arts classes and holiday programmes, left by the closure of the Tim Bray Theatre Company, has been filled, with a former head tutor picking up the mantle.
It was a “real shock” for Rachel Constantine when she heard of Bray’s ill health and when he decided to close the company late last year. Her next reaction was thinking of the children who wouldn’t have after-school and holiday programme performing-arts classes to go to.
She then got to work creating Kea Performing Arts which is now running the after-school classes for children aged 5 to 16, split into two-year age groups, at Takapuna’s St George’s Church as well as the school holiday programmes at the Rose Centre in Belmont, “giving the kids an opportunity to be able to still come to drama on the North Shore”, she said.
“I’m so relieved and very grateful that the parents have been so supportive of me setting up this company.
“We’re really lucky in that we’ve got the students that were in Tim Bray youth theatre coming back and we’ve also got new students coming in.”
The Tim Bray Theatre Company ran holiday programmes for seven years and the after-school classes for over 15. Its popular professional performances at the PumpHouse Theatre in Takapuna and other Auckland venues ran for several decades.
Constantine, a Devonport resident, was the head tutor at Tim Bray’s for 10 years and prior to that taught at other companies and was a stage actor in the United Kingdom.
Students in the classes learn a range of theatre techniques, culminating in an end-of-year production which they help create.
She said the after-school classes and holiday programmes help the students develop life skills such as collaboration, making friends and confidence.
Melodies rule again at Bruce Mason
Widow Clicquot (M)
Becoming Led Zeppelin (E)
Babygirl (R16)
Companion (R16)
The Haka Party Incident (E)
A Complete Unknown (M)
The Brutalist (R16)
We Live in Time (M)
Anora (R16)
Dragonkeeper (PG)
Captain
Humanist
Morning Melodies is returning to the Bruce Mason Centre in Takapuna for another year, beginning with a performance by the Society Jazzmen ensemble on Monday 17 February.
The affordable monthly events put on by Auckland Live, a division of Auckland Council’s Tataki Auckland Unlimited, provide a varied programme of musical entertainment across the year.
The second of the 2025 line-up includes the NZTrio with its electric Groove Cafe repertoire on 17 March. Award-winning local favourite North Shore Brass features in May.
Other standouts include Carl Doy, of Piano by Candlelight album fame, making his Morning Melodies debut in September and swing trio The Madeleines in October.
The Royal New Zealand Navy Band rounds out the year on 8 December, with the country’s only full-time concert military band back for its popular Christmas concert.
The musical series, at which concertgoers can enjoy free tea and biscuits, is designed to foster a sense of community.
Morning Melodies attendance costs $7 a session or $54 for a season’s pass, plus booking fees.
Kea head tutor Rachel Constantine (left) and tutor Dee Landon, who both previously worked for Tim Bray Theatre Company, which has closed.
Pride Festival show helps keep focus on issues
An emerging writer and director staging a play for Auckland Pride Festival at the PumpHouse believes raising awareness of LBGTQ+ issues and communities remains important, despite the legislative progress of recent decades.
Set in 2010s New Zealand, Pretty Legal follows law firm owners Olivia and Katrina, who finally leave their marriages for each other, as do their ex-husbands. Faith Ward (21) told the Observer such stories remain important in helping to shift people’s attitudes.
“There are still a lot of people who haven’t really come to terms with ‘being gay is okay’ even though we think we’ve progressed as a society, so I think it’s good to have the Auckland Pride Festival.”
The play takes an abstract approach to staging, and has an episodic narrative structure, which is a change from the Love Makes the Bed It Lies In show she put on for the festival last year.
“Our set is just a table and four chairs. Sometimes it becomes a car, sometimes it becomes a church or a rugby game. It becomes whatever you want it to be.”
With the fast-paced nature of the scenes, having a built set would have been too difficult to manage. Having a minimal set puts more focus on the actors and their performances, which is helpful in a dialogue-heavy play, Ward says.
Devonport actor Rebecca Wright plays Olivia, a driven and organised woman who’s lived the most conventional life of the four lead characters and is finally able to break free and be who she wants to.
Wright, who’s acted in other productions at the PumpHouse and the Rose Centre, said she was initially drawn into the play by the blurb, then loved the script.
The play makes many references to the time in which it is set, most noticeably in the title, a nod to Steven Joyce’s words when the National Party used music similar to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” for a campaign video. • Pretty Legal , the PumpHouse Theatre, 19-22 February. For ticket prices and more information visit pumphouse.co.nz. Auckland Pride Festival is on throughout February –see aucklandpride.org.nz for details.
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Time for some adult fun, romance and even horror. New movies, including these special ones, to share with your special one on Valentines Day.
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Helping raise awareness... Writer-director Faith Ward (right) and Devonport actor Rebecca Wright at the PumpHouse, where Pretty Legal is being staged as part of the Pride Festival this month
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