25 October 2024, Rangitoto Observer

Page 1


Milford, Castor

Takapuna near-miss driver discharged... p2

Arts patron’s collection goes to auction... p3

Rebuilt badminton centre hosts major event... p10

Asians now a majority in four local suburbs

Asian populations have grown to account for more than half the residents of four of the northern suburbs of the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board (DTLB) area.

Latest Census data shows Sunnynook North has the highest proportion of Asian residents in the area, at 55.07 per cent, fol-

lowed by Forrest Hill North with 51.9 per cent, Forrest Hill West, 5l.7 per cent and Sunnynook South, 50.5 per cent.

Takapuna Central had the greatest growth in its Asian population between 2018 and 2023, at 29.9 per cent, though the ethnic group makes up only 21.1 per cent of the total.

Increasing diversity is evident across the whole DTLB northern area, but overall the population remains majority European at 55.8 per cent, with Asian people comprising 39.3 per cent – compared with 27.2 per cent 10 years earlier – followed by Māori at 5.5

To page 5

Shore girls make a splash at Interdoms

Sister act... Westlake Girls High School sisters Jess (left) and Charlotte Handley in action during a recent trans-Tasman competition where Westlake’s team won the girls division for the second year running and New Zealand defeated Australia. Story, more pictures, page 11.

Coastal track reopens

Access to the Takapuna-to-Milford coastal track has been restored, with the removal of fences at the Firth property near Black Rock. This allows walkers to cross the property, avoiding a long detour required since the fences were installed in September last year. A sign asks walkers to keep to the path through the seafront yard. The property owners have described their removal of the fences as a “gesture of goodwill to the community”. They said in a statement no arrangement had been struck with Auckland Council to secure access. The property at 9 Kitchener Rd was withdrawn from sale last month after being on the market since February.

Business group lauded

The Takapuna Beach Business Association (TBBA) won a community contribution award at the 2Degrees Auckland Business Awards. Judges said the TBBA had fostered a sense of community through its many events, including the Winter Lights Festival, benefiting local schools, business and groups. “Their commitment to creating a vibrant, inclusive environment is truly commendable.”

Boundary revision sought

The Devonport-Takapuna Local Board is taking its case for a boundary revision to the Local Government Commission. Auckland councillors decided recently to hold off rectifying population imbalances for voting purposes, but the DTLB and neighbouring Kaipatiki board want action sooner than in a six-yearly review. The two boards comprise the North Shore ward which has been outgrown by the neighbouring Albany ward.

Driver spared conviction after footpath near-miss

A 20-year-old man has been discharged without conviction after pleading guilty to dangerous driving in Takapuna.

A car driven by Tirth Patel on 29 May nearly hit a waitress taking a break outside a restaurant, after he lost control of the vehicle, which mounted the footpath.

Patel, who fled the scene, pleaded guilty on 2 August.

Name suppression was lifted at his sentencing at North Shore District Court on 11 October, when his lawyer, Eric Chen, argued that the consequences of conviction would outweigh the gravity of the offending.

Chen said a conviction would make it harder for Patel to visit family in India and the United States, while also making future employment difficult.

He said Patel had visited the victim, apologised, compensated her with a $500 gift card and a further $400 payment, taken defensive driving courses, made a $209 donation to

Hato Hone St John and had a positive character reference from his employer.

The apology was accepted by the victim and assurances given to her that the keys to Patel’s parents’ car would be more closely monitored and Patel would be placed on a curfew.

Chen argued that Patel’s actions were at the lower end of offending, being more careless than dangerous.

A prosecution lawyer said dangerous driving remained the appropriate charge.

Community Magistrate Lavinia Nathan said she was satisfied the gravity of the offending was moderate. Considering the serious consequences of a conviction and taking into account Patel’s age, early guilty plea and deeds following the incident, she was prepared to discharge him without conviction.

Patel was disqualified from driving for six months, backdated to when he pleaded guilty.

Many in Milford snub buyout option

The owners of more than 80 high-risk homes in Milford had not registered them for flood buyout assessment before the cutoff date, a local board member says.

Mel Powell told the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board last week that properties in Nile, Alma and Waterloo Rds and Stratford and Wolseley Aves were among those not registered. Some would have been likely to qualify for a buyout offer from Auckland Council.

Assessments had been sought for nearly 300 homes across the board area.

Council’s Recovery Office told the Observer that, of these, 69 had opted into the buyout programme, though not all met the criteria. By 8 October, 47 valuations had

been provided, 18 offers accepted and 13 buyouts completed.

Powell said she was disappointed the hard-hit local area had not been treated as a “priority” area by the office.

Research was commissioned to identify recovery needs in Henderson-Massey, Māngere and Mt Roskill/Wesley. “No independent needs assessment has been done on the North Shore.”

This was disappointing because many of those affected in Milford and Sunnynook were elderly. “This population have unique needs which have not been considered.”

• Couple’s post-flood woes expose issue with stormwater responsibility, pages 6-7.

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SIMON WATTS

Authorised by Hon Simon Watts, Parliament Buildings, Wgtn.

Lover of art... Genevieve Becroft (left) and her architecturally significant home in Takapuna, with a Pat Hanly painting on the wall inside

Noted Shore patron’s art collection goes on sale

A treasure trove built up in their Takapuna home by art patrons Genevieve Becroft and her late husband David is to be auctioned.

The couple long supported artists and North Shore arts and community groups, with this still continuing through the Becroft Foundation they founded in 1996.

The Becrofts were instrumental in efforts to save the PumpHouse and the Lake House as arts venues. Their home of more than 50 years, overlooking Lake Pupuke, was the original location for Sculpture OnShore, a major fundraiser for Women’s Refuge.

Webb’s auction house announced this week that it was selling the Becroft Collection of nearly 100 paintings, sculptures, ceramics and other works. It will be on display by arrangement at the family home, described as a work of art in its own right.

“We expect a lot of people will want to come,” said Webb’s spokesman Caolán McAleer. Among 87 lots on offer were nine Pat Hanly paintings, which he said were

the best to reach the market for some time.

Other artists to feature in what will be an online auction open from 25 October to 4 November include Louise Henderson, Barry Lett, Teuane Tibbo, Robert Ellis, Don Binney, Greer Twiss, and Barry Brickell.

Daughter Tabitha Becroft, one of four children, told the Observer the family had decided with their mother, aged 90, having moved into care it was time to disperse the bulk of the collection to people who would love the pieces as much as she had.

She said her mother had always bought what she liked, not with an eye for investment, but rather to support artists.

Sister Gabrielle, quoted in the Webb’s catalogue, recalls her mother’s arty friends. “There were weekends where mum would invite families over for tie-dying. We would make pots on her kick wheel and then fire them in the kiln she built in the backyard.”

The Becroft home, built in the late 1960s, was considered avante garde, but for Tabitha

the memories are of the tiny bedrooms the siblings had which opened up to a mezzanine loft which was “great fun”.

In 1994 the house designed by Peter Middleton and Harry Turbott won an Institute of Architects 25-year award, when it was described as “a seminal building in the history of New Zealand architecture”.

“I remember my parents working so hard to get the garden up for viewing,” Tabitha said of the early Sculpture OnShore days. Her father, a paediatric pathologist, even forgave the crowds trampling across the lawn he tended so carefully.

Genevieve – who received a Queens Service Medal in 2001 – remained a regular at the event. The PumpHouse this year hosted a 90th birthday celebration for her.

Tabitha hopes two “fabulous” portraits of Genevieve will one day find a public home to recognise her local efforts. The family is retaining these for now, and keeping some works of personal significance.

Castor Bay barracks repairs costed at

Patching up a former military barracks on Kennedy Park Reserve in Castor Bay will cost close to $1 million.

The building at 139 Beach Rd (pictured, right), which was disguised as a state house to avoid aerial bombardment during World War II, is fenced off, boarded up and in poor condition, but cannot be demolished due to its heritage listing.

Devonport-Takapuna Local Board members recently received an updated council assessment of the “problem building”.

An estimate of $972,000 was given for the cost of repairs, excluding consent costs and further checks for earth movement and possible ground contamination.

Members were told uncertainty over what the building might be used for meant costings could not be exact.

Chair Toni van Tonder said the issue needed addressing. She said $790,000 was available, but with other needs at Kennedy Park, such as fixing the washed-out stairs and car-park improvements, the board could not spend “a whole heap of money” on the barracks.

The last full assessment of the building was done in 2018. Council project manag-

bylaw’

A large sign promoting a wifi service on a fence overlooking Thorne Bay between Takapuna and Milford has been deemed illegal by Auckland Council.

Alerted by the Observer, council cited a bylaw banning such signage in a public open space. A spokesman said an officer would investigate.

One beachgoer, who did not want to be named, told the paper the sign was a “bit in your face”. While he wasn’t particularly offended, “some people probably would be”.

er Roma Leota said: “It’s no surprise the building has deteriorated to the point where everything needs to be replaced.”

Ideas of restoring the building for community purposes or a cafe have previously been suggested, but the board leaned toward focusing on just exterior repairs.

Some members had misgivings that this would still be costly, leaving them open to criticism without delivering a result.

But they were also wary that for the building to be used, further work would be needed to provide paths and parking.

Member Gavin Busch said when market conditions picked up, a commercial tenant might be interested.

Staff were asked to obtain firm figures

for fixing the main issues and repairing the exterior so fences could come down.

“Let’s make sure there’s some heritage signage, so it’s not revolting to walk around,” van Tonder said.

Board member Mel Powell said she had attended a meeting of the Castor Bay Ratepayers and Residents Association (CABRRA), whose members were asked what they would want prioritised at the reserve.

“They felt like they were being asked to choose their favourite child,” she said.

Powell said the house should just be made safe, as there was no clear need for another community space. An Observation Post building on site was already available, and there was a cafe down the road.

“Make it watertight, make it an installation like the one on the [Auckland] waterfront, with perspex windows,” she said. Member George Wood was concerned about more vandalism if the building was left empty.

Staff will report back to the board in December for its final deliberation.

The future of the barracks and stairs are sure to be topics at CABBRA’s annnual meeting on 6 November. Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson will be the guest speaker.

Empty Shore houses on the rise

A steep increase in unoccupied dwellings has been tracked in the latest Census data, which shows 1452 in the northern suburbs of the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board area in 2023.

This compares with 840 at the 2018 Census and 732 in 2013.

Suburbs with the biggest increases in unoccupied homes were Forrest Hill West, up 121.7 per cent to 153; Takapuna Central up 160.5 per cent to 297; and Westlake up 156 per cent to192.

Seniors aplenty in Milford and Takapuna, population grows older

From page 1

per cent, the Middle Eastern, Latin American and African grouping (MLAA) at 3.4 per cent and Pasifika at 2.5 per cent.

By contrast, in the southern half of the DTLB area (Devonport peninsula suburbs), Asian residents made up only 14.1 per cent of the population, as measured in the 2023 Census, with Europeans remaining by far the largest ethnic group, at 81.4 per cent. (Totals add up to more than 100 per cent as some people identify with more than one ethnic group.)

Across the entire DTLB area, the total population has been near-static at 58,005, compared with larger local boards to the north, which are growing strongly.

The total northern DTLB population reduced to 34,245 from 34,290 in 2018. In the southern suburbs, the peninsula’s smaller population rose to 23,766, up from 23,514.

Seven of the 12 northern suburbs recorded population drops. Those growing the most were Takapuna West, up 6.2 per cent from 2018 to 2023, and Castor Bay South, up 3.1 per cent; with smaller rises in Forrest Hill East, Forrest Hill West and Sunnynook North.

Those declining in population most were Westlake, down 4.4 per cent from 2018 to 2023, Takapuna Central, down 3.3 per cent, and Milford West, down 2.4 per cent.

Narrow Neck had the most growth across the whole DTLB area, up 7.8 per cent to 4416 residents, with Devonport losing the most people – 168 (5 per cent).

The population continues to age. The 65plus group has grown to 17.6 per cent, up from 16.9 per cent in 2018. Milford Central has the highest percentage of residents over 65, at 33.3 per cent, with Takapuna Central in second place with 29.1 per cent.

Middle East/ Latin American/ African

Generator still pushing sewage uphill as residents

Makeshift mess... Jacque Mercieca stands by a black pipe carrying sewage pumped from the fenced-off pit behind her. A generator (at rear) runs 24/7 to keep the operation going on a right-of-way down from her home and others.

A Castor Bay couple and their neighbours are living with a makeshift sewage pipe on their right-of-way, as damage caused in floods early last year remains unrepaired.

Jacque and Joe Mercieca are desperate for a permanent infrastructure fix, but say this would need Auckland Council departments Watercare and Healthy Waters to work together. “They throw it back and forth,” Jacque says.

A temporary solution installed by Watercare has been in place for nearly 21 months. It involves a generator running at all times, a holding pit and a pump connected to a rubber pipe. The pipe carries sewage up the steep drive to meet a sewer main over the road and down the ridge. “Neighbours hear the chugging,” says Jacque, pointing out where the pipe runs close to a window.

Another neighbour further down the drive lives with the generator running just over the fence from his vegetable garden.

The Merciecas’ own home is tucked off the drive, but it is at the bottom of their section that the trouble started. This was where floodwaters gushed from a Healthy Waters stormwater pipe into a creek, scouring out its bank and dislodging an underground Watercare sewerage pipe.

The fallout has upset the peaceful sense of home they have enjoyed on the property for 30 years, overlooking native bush in a gully. Destabilised land around the creek has

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Flood Fallout

long for joined-up council thinking

continued to slip and crack, raising fears for their swimming pool above.

Jacque said they realised the Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods of 2023 caused enormous damage to many. They were speaking out because the impact was ongoing for people like them and the community as a whole. “We’ve neglected the infrastructure and that’s what made the beaches not safe to swim in,” she said.

The public might not see what is underneath the ground, but that was where ratepayer dollars needed to be directed. Joe said infill housing was adding to network strain.

The couple credit Watercare for being quick to set up the sewage bypass a matter of days after the flood. But they said it was around 10 years ago when they first contacted Healthy Waters, asking it to slow the flow of stormwater that led to the washout.

Joe said part of the problem for individuals like them was council could dispose of stormwater over private property.

The couple showed the Observer where the council pipe drops water into the creek on their land. In heavy rain, “it comes out like a rooster’s tail”, said Joe.

Jacque’s take: “It comes screaming through here at 100 miles per hour.”

Their original idea was to place boulders in the creek to slow the water along its length of around 100m before it channelled back underground. “My frustration is, if they had

STYLES

put the boulders in, I don’t think it would have happened,” Jacque said.

Now the creek their three children used to easily jump over has widened and subsided to the extent they consider it unsafe for people to go down there. The partially retired couple are paying for geotechnical reports to establish the safety of the slope above. “We’re going to get our land stabilised, but it won’t stop the continual undermining,” Jacque said.

She understood a recent council report indicated the creek was at bedrock, but cracks above would continue to open.

Watercare contractors have told the Merciecas they hope to bring a 10-tonne digger onto the land to lay a new underground sewage pipe. Trees will be cleared and replanted. This comes on top of Watercare having paid to have the generator checked daily and replaced once.

They fear unless Healthy Waters is involved at the same time as Watercare, any fix will be half-done, with risk remaining.

Jacque accepts fully undergrounding the creek would likely be very expensive, but said the cost to date had already been too high. A Healthy Waters problem had caused the Watercare problem, she said.

“The dream outcome would be to do our stabilisation at the same time as Watercare does work, and that Healthy Workers also reduces the risk, by slowing down the flow, so it’s not all gouged out.”

One council arm acts... the other’s hands-off

Watercare says it will spend around $1 million to fix sewerage issues on and near the Merciecas’ property, but Healthy Waters says it has no immediate plans for work in the area.

The Watercare project will start next month and take about three months. It aims to replace the wastewater pipe washed out in floods in January 2023 before Christmas.

A new 80m section of polyethylene pipe will be laid away from unstable land around the creek at the bottom of the property. Two new manholes and 10m of open-cut pipe are also part of the job.

Watercare said it was not able to supply a figure for the cost of what it had spent already on temporary solutions.

It had not needed to co-ordinate repairs with Healthy Waters.

Healthy Waters head of strategy Andrew Chin said it would monitor the watercourse and respond to any risk of blockages. But it was not planning work on the stormwater outlet or the creek bed. “Under current regulations, it is the responsibility of property owners to maintain watercourses on their land,” Chin said. Pending legislation may change this but, if it did, any possible future work would be years away.

Woof! Doggy day out in Takapuna

Dana and Jason Lee with golden retriever Maple (above) and Belmont couple Ken and Julie Warder (below) whose dog Harley is the same breed were among owners and their pets at the Barking Mad Dog Market and Event in Takapuna last Saturday. Dog-related talks and Q&A sessions, along with dog races and a dog show on the programme in Waiwharariki Anzac Square, where stalls were also set up.

Creatures great and small... Paul, Maggie and son Will Harvey with bull mastiff Ragnar. Below: Sharlene Beach and her cavoodle Layla.

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Badminton bounces back from floods with $4m rebuild

North Harbour Badminton (NHB) has sprung back into full operation this week, reopening its centre with an international tournament after a $4 million rebuild.

The Forrest Hill facility has 11 courts in a vast hall that was badly damaged in the January 2023 floods.

NHB chief executive Glenn Cox – who had to wade through deep floodwaters after evacuating others from the building – is excited to have navigated the road to recovery for the fast-growing sport.

The just-signed-off rebuild had delivered a state-of-the-art facility that was the “best in Australasia”, he told the Observer.

“I’m really delighted with what we’ve been able to come up with.”

Members of the public are welcome as spectators at the Maxx Harbour International, which gives a rare opportunity for New Zealand’s best players to take on top opposition without travelling overseas.

The tournament features 170 competitors, including leading New Zealand players Edward Lau and Shaunna Li, who both play for Harbour. A number of top-100 world-ranked players will be in action, coming from countries including Australia, Japan, Malaysia, the US and England,

Overseas players began arriving last weekend, with training from Tuesday. Competition started on Wednesday and runs until this Saturday 26 October.

The Oceania Championships which were cancelled after the flood struck a week before they began have been scheduled for the new facility in February.

The lower level of the centre has been fully rebuilt, with 500 piles removed and replaced, new bearers and joists installed and a floor of treated ply laid, with imported sprung sports flooring and matting on top.

IT has been incorporated into the floor

rebuild, allowing live-streaming from three courts. Screens for all courts display bookings, and can present scores recorded on umpires’ touch pads.

Cox said NHB had taken the opportunity at its own expense to improve the building’s entrance, paint the enitre playing space and refresh the interior upstairs, which has offices and a mezzanine spectator area.

Although insurance paid for the repairs, getting reinsurance was another story. “The local market is very gun-shy, especially in this area, with Wairau Valley etc,” Cox said.

The organisation instead looked overseas for cover, but this still came at a price hike of 400 per cent on premiums.

A rebuild at a new location was not covered by the old policy, said Cox, and would have cost more than $10 million, with land costs on top.

While he had heard “nothing at all” from Auckland Council on any flood mitigation measures planned to lower risks in the area, he hoped the set of circumstances that caused the flood would not be repeated any time soon. As well as extreme rainfall, he said, “it was full tide and all sorts of bits and pieces didn’t work”.

Although the facility was out of action until this week, NHB’s seven staff were retained, covered by now-expired businessinterruption insurance.

Pre-flood, NHB was serving 150,000 users a year, with the building in operation from early morning until 11pm. Cox expected similar demand with the reopening, with badminton a growing sport, especially popular among the North Shore’s Asian population.

A second NHB venue with 10 courts in Corinthian Dr is set to open in two weeks, replacing a facility in Apollo Dr with an expired lease.

NHB is also going into the new indoors Harbour Sports indoor hub in Albany, which will house four new basketball courts, four for pickleball and a climbing wall, alongside the existing tennis centre.

Badminton will have 10 designated courts in the hub, which is expected to open in late 2026.

“We’re just massively short of indoor space in Auckland,” Cox said.

Ready for play... North Harbour Badminton chief executive Glenn Cox at the organisation’s rebuilt Forrest Hill facility before its reopening this week

Westlake Girls yachties repeat trans-Tasman triumph

The Westlake Girls High School sailing team has won a trans-Tasman regatta for the second year in a row, confirming their standing as the best all-girls team in Australasia.

Competing in the Inter Dominion Championships, hosted by the Royal Akarana Yacht Club in Ōrākei from 10-12 October, Westlake won the female division on a closely contested final day.

The regatta brings together the best three girls’ and open secondary-school teams from New Zealand to compete against their Australian counterparts in 420s across a series of round-robin races.

By taking the most wins overall, New Zealand took the trophy this year.

Westlake Girls’ three-boat team had a good start, winning all five of their races during the opening round robin.

During the second round robin that day, Westlake won three of five races to allow St. Michael’s Collegiate (from Tasmania) to close the gap between second and first.

Difficult conditions featured on the second day, with Westlake struggling in low winds, falling to second place on the table, after winning only two of five races.

With St. Michael’s ahead, Westlake needed a huge effort on the final day.

High winds allowed them to show their speed in winning all five races and the title.

Coach Robbie Wooldridge said the com-

Making a move... Westlake Girls duo Emily Turner (left) and Bella Jenkins in action at the Interdominion Championships

petition was tough, with every team beating each other at least once. The girls had done “an amazing job” to come out on top.

The team trained from Milford Cruising Club before the competition, focusing on team strategy rather than speed and boat handling, as the girls already had those skills from training in their own boats, Wooldridge said.

He said team racing required sailors to communicate with two other boats on the water, so being able to race cohesively as a team was important.

Auckland Grammar School won the open division.

Wooldridge said the Westlake Girls team intended to go to Australia next year to again seek to defend their title.

Flying the flag... The Westlake Girls sailing team (from left): Emily Turner, captain Daniella Wooldridge, Jess Handley, Charlotte Handley, Julia Nguyen, Bella Jenkins, Danielle Robertson and Gretel Satterthwaite.

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Olympic gold-medal winning North Shore kayaker Tara Vaughan (centre) has been named Auckland University of Technology’s Female Athlete of the Year.

Vaughan’s Paris Games teammate, kayaking great Dame Lisa Carrington (right) was a special guest to present the award at a recent night presided over by Vice Chancellor professor Damon Salesa (left).

The Castor Bay student – AUT’s first gold-medal winner – was one of 41 students also recognised with an AUT Blue Award. The sports “Blue” tradition dates back to competition between Oxford and Cambridge universities and their colours (both shades of blue) symbolising excellence in sport.

Carrington, Vaughan and fellow North Shore Canoe Club crewmates Alicia Hoskin and Olivia Brett comprised the world-beating K4 crew that won in Paris in August. They all train on Lake Pupuke.

Vaughan studies at AUT’s northern campus on Akoranga Dr, towards a Bachelor of Sport and Recreation. She said her team extended to those at AUT, including Bruce Meyer, who enabled her to combine her sporting and academic goals.

AUT’s Male Athlete of the Year was trampolinist Brodie Miller (Ngāpuhi), who won two major Blue Awards, and was also named Māori Athlete of the Year. He came third at a World Cup event in Portugal in July.

Weekend kapa haka

Westlake Boys High School’s kapa haka group (above) were among the participants at Te Ahurea Tino Rangatiratanga, an annual Auckland secondary school festival hosted by the school last weekend.

Close to 5000 spectators attended, watching performances by 22 kapa haka groups, each with around 40 members.

Michael Wassell, a former Westlake head boy who helped organise the event, said making it non-competitive this year meant

more schools were keen to take part.

He said it was great to see students from across the Auckland region coming together for the occasion.

Wassell said Westlake students who attended as spectators had enjoyed the exposure to Māori culture.

Members of the public had welcomed seeing such a large event being held on the North Shore.

Westlake Boys

Giving it everything... Westlake performers (from top) Phoenix Hafoka, Jade Taylor and Chilee Hafoka

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