Stanley Bay Park assault investigation stalled

Police will shelve the complaint alleging an assault at Stanley Bay in February last year unless any new information comes to light.

Responding to questions from the Flagstaff, Detective Senior Sergeant Nick Poland, Waitemata East Investigations Manager, said police “recognise the news of this report was concerning to the wider community, and we worked tirelessly on this investigation.

“Our investigators focused on establishing what has exactly occurred in the incident.

“Police also made a number of attempts to speak further with the complainant about what occurred, including having our specialist interviewers available.

The complainant can contact police at any time if she wishes to progress this matter further, Poland said.

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“We can reassure residents that based on all enquiries in the past year, we have no ongoing concerns for the community over this matter.”

Police took more than 50 statements during the investigation.

An extensive area canvass was carried out, including at the Stanley Bay scene and the route the complainant took, which led to police staff visiting more than 277 houses.

CCTV footage “was not overly beneficial to the investigation”, Poland said.

“Our staff found there was a lack of cameras at residential addresses in the area.

“At the time the report was made, police obtained a broad description of an offender. But through our enquiries, we have not identified anyone matching this description who was in the area at the time,” Poland said.

Disruption looms for main street

From page 1 handled off-site. But there would be times when traffic was controlled by stop-go signs, Hale said.

Contractors Fulton Hogan will work sixday weeks.

Along with the safety work, parking is being reduced by 15 spaces to allow for longer bus stops and wider angled parking. Businesses were concerned, Hale said, but the staged approach meant “at least we won’t get a Hurstmere Rd [Takapuna] situation where everything is closed down”.

Devonport-Takapuna Local Board chair Toni van Tonder said a waiving of council outdoor-tables fees had been obtained for businesses for when construction was nearby.

AT had been asked to tidy up Victoria Rd footpaths and paving while completing the safety work. “Ending up with gold-plated speed-calming and shoddy pavements” made no sense, she said.

“While it will be a period of disruption, we hope we’re going to minimise it,” said Hale.

AT had been given a clear message that work needed to be done before the busy summer season, she said.

Hale said a request for parking to be made temporarily free near the ferry terminal, to compensate for the disruption along Victoria Rd during construction, had been rejected.

In light of weather-related road damage across Auckland, as well as Auckland Council budget cuts, she had asked AT if the extent of spending in Devonport was warranted, and particularly if some of the raised-crossing features were really necessary.

AT’s response was that it was very keen for the work to proceed. It was budgeted for and consulted on and came with a contribution from national transport agency Waka Kotahi that would be put at risk with delays.

The works are part of the wider Safe Speeds programme, designed to make roads safer for all users, including pedestrians and cyclists.

The Devonport project has been on the drawing board for several years, during which time a working group of representatives from the DBA, schools, local board and community was consulted.

Stage one – introducing 30km/h speed limits in and leading to the town centre – began this month. Stage two went to community consultation late last year. More than 200 submissions were received, most of them objecting to plans to do away with a right-hand turning lane from Victoria Rd into Calliope Rd in favour of fitting in a cycle lane. AT dropped the idea.

The approach to the intersection will be upgraded for pedestrians. This will mark the start of the stage two work, along with changes at Kerr St and in front of the Victoria Theatre to Rattray St.

The lower section of Victoria Rd, south of Flagstaff Tce, will be tackled next, with the middle section done last.

If work begins on schedule in May, weather permitting, it should finish in August or September.

The main town centre is expected to be the focus for two months.

AT figures show that in the five years to 2020, 44 traffic accidents in Devonport included 14 causing injuries that needed medical attention. Twelve of those related to vulnerable road users.

By Rob Drent

Recent roadworks in central Devonport, seem to illustrate the old adage – small is beautiful.

Gangs of contractors moved in to reseal Mozeley Ave and parts of Victoria Rd with chip.

I’m no expert on roads, but to a layman’s eye the tarmac was not in bad condition, with no visible potholes or ruts. The end result – with residual chips flying everywhere and tar catching on cars – is worse than what was there before.

Just one street over, in Abbotsford Tce, a large pothole almost big enough to damage car suspensions has developed. Why wasn’t this fixed at the same time? Most likely because council adheres to a rigid rolling road maintenance programme – other than in emergencies such as when damage was caused by Cyclone Gabrielle. The centralisation of works done by contractors continues to serve Devonport poorly.

In 1985 – towards the end of the days of the Devonport Borough Council – residents in the suburb (roughly from Devonport north to Takapuna Grammar) were served by 76 staff, including 43 in the works/parks department.

In that era, a call from residents to fix a broken footpath or developing pothole was often remedied on the same day.

In the lead-up to last year’s election, North Shore councillor Chris Darby felt a review of ‘Super City’ effectiveness was due. It would be great to see the possibility of a local Devonport works team included in the mix.

At interclub tennis last week, two of my teammates and one of our opponents happened to have all spent extended periods living in Hong Kong. We were waiting for our final opponent to arrive and conversation drifted to the excellent and well-planned Hong Kong transport system. Our tardy opponent’s ETA was dependent on Lake Rd traffic, a common occurrence, repeated thousands of times each week.

Coincidently, I ran into a former local-body politician the next day and quickly fell into dreamland fantasies of trams on Lake Rd, from Devonport to Takapuna. Totally possible, reckoned the local-government veteran, if the Lake Rd power poles were undergrounded.This also offered better protection against potential cyclone or storm damage.

After squash at Warkworth on Wednesday evening, I encountered numerous delays getting back due to roadworks outside the town and then again on Lake Rd getting into Devonport. First-world problems, I know, but transport issues for many appear to be getting worse around the city rather than better. I remain convinced that Lake Rd is an example that shows options other than roading are the answer long-term.

Devonport peninsula residents are now being hit by transport failures on two fronts. Trapped on Lake Rd last week, a mate had to miss an in-person medical consultation and drive home to conduct it by Zoom. Even a year ago, I might have said you should have caught a ferry over to the city and taken public transport from there. Not any more: ferry cancellations and unreliability have become so commonplace they can be relied on to wreak havoc with arrangements and cause appointment chaos as much as Lake Rd congestion.

Flash back 20 years, when the area was administered by North Shore City Council and the Devonport Community Board: we had functioning ferry services from Devonport Wharf, Stanley Bay and Bayswater, as well as plans approved for a new Bayswater ferry terminal.

Now, the planned ferry terminal has been mothballed into the never-never, Stanley Bay’s ferry service has been canned and the Devonport and Bayswater routes are in crisis. If anything, the situation has worsened since Auckland Transport last year began overseeing ferry operations (although not day-to-day management, which is still Fullers’ responsibility).

Is it time to review and overhaul the whole operation with a view to bring it fully under public control so there can be no buck-passing between various ‘stakeholders’?

All Blacks coach-in-waiting Scott ‘Razor’ Robertson proved an entertaining guest speaker last Friday at the launch of C’Mon Shore!, a book on North Shore Rugby Club’s first 150 years. Down to earth, forthright and humorous, Robertson came across as a breath of fresh air. Most of the North Shore Rugby Club stalwarts were left wondering why he wasn’t All Black coach already.

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