Flood frustration flows months down track

Locals are being asked for feedback on Auckland Council’s flood protection strategy, but without detail or timelines for what work is planned in badly hit parts of Sunnynook and Milford.

Residents’ frustrations were evident at the Sunnynook Community Association’s annual meeting this month, when the continuing toll of dealing with damage – more than six months down the track from last summer’s floods – was highlighted.

Sunnynook Community Centre co-ordinator Bronwyn Bound said residents needed to realise how badly impacted others were.

“I’ve had people turn up in our office ready to end it all,” she said.

Residents wanted to know more about how council’s Healthy Waters department intended to improve stormwater resilience in the Wairau catchment, including managing the flow from neighbouring suburb Totaravale.

Healthy Waters touched on this in a workshop briefing to Devonport-Takapuna Local Board members last week, at which it said the board area was one of the most flood-affected catchments in Auckland.

Maps shown to members from a ‘Making Space for Water’ strategy highlighted areas being considered for attention. But uncertainty continues, because precise retreat plans are yet to come and a deal is yet to be struck between the government and Auckland Council on any property buyouts.

Auckland Emergency Managment’s response is also causing concern, with both the Milford and Takapuna residents associations saying its document out for public consultation is big on strategy and short on detail to help communities.

Bound said some 27 January flood victims were only now having carpet replaced and moving home from motels.

“The trauma they experienced and the trauma Parklane [retirement village] residents experienced was severe.” (See story, opposite page). Association chair Peter McNee, himself a resident at Parklane, said nine of the village’s villas were not being reoccupied, while repairs on the rest had only just been cleared to proceed.

Areas

Village owner-operator Arvida told the Observer it had decided on engineering advice to abandon the nine villas to the rear of its site, nearest to Wairau Creek and another waterway.

“The position of those nine villas has a higher risk of future flooding,” said Arvida general manager of village services Kay Marshall.

Land-use options were being reviewed, she said, adding: “Our priority is our residents and getting them settled, with options for relocation.”

Work under way on restoring Parklane’s administration and communal main block was making “good progress”, she said. Arvida did not say when this and the villa restoration were expected to be completed.

In Milford it is a similar story of slow progress for some residents of Nile Rd, with one homeowner telling the Observer that despite now having his insurance payout confirmed, the company had offered little

MP recognises coordinator’s flood work

Sunnynook Community Centre coordinator Brownyn Bound has been awarded a Certificate of Appreciation by North Shore MP Simon Watts.

“It is formal recognition of the services you led,” Watts said at the Sunnynook Community Association’s annual meeting at the centre.

Described as the “heartbeat of the community” by a resident at the meeting this month, Bound anchored the core team of volunteers who led flood response from a base at the centre.

The team helped people from inundated homes and, in the clean-up, arranged food, clothes and other support, working long hours, when the area was left with little official help for days after the 27 January floods.

One of the local volunteers, Reilly Brown, said emotional support was still needed.

Bound said the community effort during floods, including by local Scouts and Glenfield Greyhounds League Club, was outstanding. “The whole community stood up.” Appreciated... MP Simon Watts with Bronwyn Bound hope of repairs being made before the end of the year.

Sunnynook resident John Godfrey said: “I would have thought that after the flooding here, there would have been a blanket moratorium on any development, but there wasn’t and I’m very disappointed.”

North Shore councillor Richard Hills warned colleagues last month that the lack of detail in the Healthy Waters strategy would frustrate people being asked for feedback.

Local Board member Mel Powell, who was at both the workshop and the community meeting two days later, has urged people to give their views and ask questions face-toface of Healthy Waters staff at the two local public-consultation sessions next week.

The drop-in sessions will be held at Milford Mall on Monday 21 August, from 3pm to 5pm, and the next day, Tuesday, in Wairau, at Aristotle’s Motel, 20c Link Dr from 7pm to 9pm.

Bodyline by Guy Body

Local trio off to Worlds

Three of the 19-member New Zealand team picked for the World Athletics Championships in Budapest are Takapuna Athletics Club members and former Takapuna Grammar School students. Imogen Ayris will join Olympic medallist Eliza McCartney in pole-vault competition, having reached a personal best height of 4.53m in Germany this month. McCartney, who in late July cleared 4.85m – her best vault in more than four years and the second-best height of anyone in the world this year – is on the comeback trail after years of injuries. Like the pole-vaulters, shotputter Jacko Gill has been competing well in Europe. He joins them in competition in the Hungarian capital from 18-27 August.

Marathon shelved

Local-board plan consultation closes

Consultation on the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board Plan – which includes a question about whether a targeted rate should be considered – closed last Monday, but a tally of the number of responses is not yet available.

An Auckland Council spokesperson said feedback forms, including those that had been dropped to libraries or mailed in would likely be counted by the end of this week. By last Friday, 11 August, 106 online submissions had been received.

A flurry of online postings and comment

Retail spending up in Takapuna

Consumer activity in Takapuna is well up on a year ago, with data showing retail spending in June was 5.5 per cent higher than in the same month in 2022.

Total transactions grew 11.9 per cent.

The biggest category increases shown in Marketview electronic transaction figures were for cafes, restaurants, bars and takeaways, with spend up 11.5 per cent. Next was apparel and personal purchases up 4.6 per cent.

One of the drivers of overall town centre growth was much-improved foot traffic at Shore City Shopping Centre, where a 30 per cent rise in spending was recorded.

Takapuna Beach Business Association (TBBA) chief executive Terence Harpur said the area was showing exceptional resilience and support for local businesses despite the surge in cost of living.

Shore City’s bounce back after upgrades at the centre showed attractive bricks-and-mortar retail still appealed to shoppers, he said.

Harpur also credited street improvements and the retail mix with revitalising Takapuna, along with town centre investment.

over the weekend and on Monday before the 4pm close-off is likely to have boosted the numbers offering their views on the local board’s three-year statement of priorities.

The most controversial item sought opinions on whether a targeted rate should be explored for a combined Takapuna community services and library hub in the town-square development.

In 2020, for the last plan, 289 responses were received, 60 via the online survey tool, 226 on paper and three through social media.

The plan will be finalised by October.

Sunnynook’s community marathon will not be run this September after volunteer Sunnynook Community Association organisers reluctantly pushed pause, due to lack of time and resources to manage it. They hope it can be resurrected. The popular event ran for two years, first during Covid lockdown, when it helped get around 180 people out for socially distanced exercising, and again last year to encourage community connection and fitness. It challenged entrants to run the marathon distance of 42km in cumulative laps of Sunnynook Park over a month.

Labour candidate in the running from list

Labour’s North Shore candidate, George Hampton, has secured 41st position on the party list, which on some recent polls puts him on the cusp of entering Parliament.

The ranking, ahead of some sitting government MPs, suggests the first-time candidate is seen as a good prospect by the party.

But if Labour’s vote is below the 32.3 per cent it recorded in this month’s Newshub-Reid Research poll, Hampton won’t make it in from the list.

Even at that level, Labour would likely be headed for the Opposition benches.

National’s poll support was up to 36.6 which, with support from Act, would put it into power. Its North Shore MP, Simon Watts, holds the seat with a hefty 3734 majority.

Hampton, aged 41, a former diplomat at the United Nations and the co-owner of the Mr Whippy franchise, lives in Devonport, and says he is in politics for the long haul. He plans to open an election office in Takapuna this month.

Food trucker seeks easier access

Food trucks should be allowed to park up in local reserves without so much rigmarole, says an operator.

Bonny Faulkner-Hollis is keen to use parking space at the likes of Sunnynook Park, Kennedy Park and Milford Beach Reserve for her new business, a small self-contained cart. She called on Devonport-Takapuna Local Board members at their last community forum to back less onerous rules, which she said were robbing the public of an affordable outing, compared with paying cafe costs. “It’s another reason to go to the park,” she said.

Board members said food trucks at events added vibrancy and permits could be applied for at designated times, but they also had a duty to support local businesses in town centres who paid rates and had higher operating costs.

Taking up further public space was not supported. People enjoyed being outdoors with their kids in nature, not being pestered for treats, said board chair Toni van Tonder.