Flood Fallout

Bodyline by Guy Body

Emergency exercise held in the city

Auckland Emergency Management staged a civil defence scenario last weekend, to better prepare community volunteers and leaders, after itself being criticised for its flood response in January.

Among those attending were board member Mel Powell from Sunnynook and former board members Ruth Jackson and Trish Deans who are part of Takapuna and Devonport local response groups respectively. Powell said it was a useful session, but more community back-up was needed.

Briefs

Cup run comes to end

Takapuna FC were knocked out of the Chatham Cup after a 1-0 defeat to Melville United AFC last weekend. An own goal from Daniel Gleissner-Broom in the fourth minute saw Melville take a lead Takapuna couldn’t come back from, ending its hopes in the third round of the competition. Takapuna will look to bounce back in its Northern League fixture this Saturday, 24 June, against Eastern Suburbs. The match will be played at home on Taharoto Park.

Mudlarks... Volunteers emerging from the mangroves during a community cleanup of the flood-hit Wairau Estuary last weekend are (clockwise from top left): Bryce Scanlen, from Milford; Estefania Ruvaleasa who travelled to help girlfriend Heidi Aspell (standing) from Sunnynook; and locals Phil Brown, Norma Bott, and Viv Cole. Bott, co-chair of the Milford Residents Association, which, with Pupuke Birdsong Project, organised this second community working bee, shows an unusual find of an ornamental metal bird. Most waste collected – around 20 cubic metres – was plastic litter or treated timber washed downstream. Milford Mariners will barge out a large pile of timber left stacked near the creek, near Omana Rd. The Conservation Volunteers group held a beach clean-up earlier the same day, with plastics predominating.

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Officials back down on consents info

Auckland Council has done an about-turn on withholding resource consent applications, after pressure from local news media and Devonport-Takapuna Local Board member George Wood (pictured).

The consents have for some years been sent on by some board members to residents groups and the news media to alert them of any applications of wider public interest.

But council staff recently told board members they were sent the lists to help them carry out their duties “and it was not intended that this information be shared”.

Any member of the public, company or entity could subscribe to the weekly lists at a cost of more than $1600 a year, a staff member told the members.

Wood, who had previously passed on the lists, considered the instruction illogical. All council information was public unless there was a reason to withhold it, said Wood, who sought further clarification.

So did the Rangitoto Observer’s sister publication The Devonport Flagstaff, which called for the resource consents to remain freely available.

Last week, a council spokesperson said the practice had been reviewed: “The resource consents team have confirmed that the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board is able to share the list of lodged resource consent applications

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Wood was happy the public and residents groups would continue to be informed, but remained confused over why the ruling to ban circulation was issued in the first place.

Board chair Toni van Tonder said she was pleased the situation had been clarified, but noted that resource consents were raw applications which had not been reviewed by council and could be a long way from approval.

• Wood was also on the case last week over the board’s use of confidential sessions for some of its workshops.

Though previously a supporter of closed workshops, he challenged van Tonder on why the board, having chosen to continue an open-workshop policy of the previous board, was not applying it universally.

The session was the last of a series of budget workshops with staff. The matter will go to a business meeting, where decisions on workshop topics are made, at times with little debate. Before the workshop began, Wood said: “We’re supposed to do our business in the open.”

Van Tonder said in this case confidentiality was needed to allow for free and frank conversations. “We’ve been talking about stripping things back and now we need reallocations.”

Final decisions would be made at an upcoming open meeting, she said.

Takapuna and Devonport snaffle bulk of board grants

Grants doled out to support community activities and events in the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board area are skewed in favour of groups based in Takapuna and Devonport, a check has found.

An assessment of allocations by the board last year has found northern suburbs received less than central and southern areas (see graph). “You can see there is some disparity,” board adviser Rhiannon Guinness said in presenting the data, which had been requested by the board.

The central area, centred on Takapuna and including Hauraki, did best, netting 44 per cent of $189,000 in funding. The vast majority went to groups based in the metropolitan centre or for events held there.

Close behind was the southern section, receiving 39 per cent of funding, for groups mostly based in Devonport. While a number of these groups service residents of the wider peninsula, including Bayswater and Belmont, the small Devonport town centre was a big beneficiary when compared with the northern board area, which includes the larger Milford town centre.

The northern area, including Milford, Sunnynook, Forrest Hill and Castor Bay, received just 13 per cent of funding.

The remaining 4 per cent of funding was to groups from the wider North Shore that provide benefits to people in the board area.

Board members said the report would prove useful for next financial year’s funding rounds.

“The information will help us be more directed,” said chair Toni van Tonder.

The slant towards the central and southern parts of the board was partly explained by these being well-established areas, with groups used to lobbying council.

In the case of Takapuna, deputy chair Terence Harpur, who is also Takapuna Beach Business Association chief executive, was quick to point out it was the biggest centre and also played host to organisations that covered the wider area, such as North Shore Budgeting Service,

DTLB Grants Share

Over several recent workshops allocating amounts of money under $2000, a tightening of future grants criteria has been signalled to deal with reduced budgets.

Repeat applicants in one year are likely to face more scrutiny than in the past. Groups were not ruled out from receiving a second small grant if money was available, but if they were already getting alternative board funding would be considered lower priority.

An Auckland Council grants adviser, Vincent Marshall, said grants to cover salary and travel costs are not allowed.

Nor are they meant to fund the likes of school or church groups, but board members plan to continue using their discretion over some fundraising events, such as the biannual Sculpture on the Shore, which also offer a visitor-attraction benefit or bring people together.

Auckland North Community and Development (Ancad) and the Citizens Advice Bureau.

Board member Peter Allen said it would be useful to know the number of grants that did not get approved and if these mirrored the same geographic pattern.

Member George Wood said, based on population, the north was not getting as much, but it had fewer incorporated societies with a track record of making applications.

Member Mel Powell noted the northern region’s ethnic makeup, saying some cultures did not like to ask for money. Their participation needed to be encouraged. “We need to look with an open mind.”

Feedback used to shape the board’s draft Local Plan showed the community had environmental initiatives as a top priority, and this should be reflected in grants, she added.

Guinness told the board she had not looked at the split between grants for arts, community and sports purposes but could do so.

The board will emphasise support for activities that deliver wider community benefit, so the days of sports groups asking for money for limited-use items such as tennis balls or small coaching courses are over. However, applications for upgrades to clubrooms, such as with heat-pumps or dishwashers, are still allowed.

The board noted the high cost of traffic management plans (TMP) required by Auckland Transport, but because this was a factor for many groups staging events, member Gavin Busch urged against paying costs towards this, cautioning: “If we do for one, we do for all.”

Member Mel Powell said she would like events the board supported to include a “healthy choices” clause, so the likes of fizzy drinks and baking were not available, and for organisers to be made accountable around events being waste- and smoke-free.

Members also favoured a local-first focus, saying a number of groups from out of area turned up making slick presentations, but could often call on support from other avenues.

The board offers a range of grants from $500 to $5000. The next financial year will have two grants rounds, one in July and one in January.