Memorial needs changes for move

Moving the Takapuna war memorial into public space from its privately owned site on The Strand will require it to be modified to fit on either of two sites under consideration.

The aim of a shift is to provide a better overall location and more certainty for future Anzac Day public gatherings, says the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board chair Toni van Tonder.

Updating the Observer on a recent meeting that involved the RSA, the parade master, local board members and council staff, she said the working group would continue to work towards agreeing on a new site that suited Anzac Day formalities, while also allowing the public to more easily interact with the memorial.

“None of us consider there to be any major urgency on relocation, so we’re all happy to continue delivering the service in its current format until we understand the full scope of works and cost of relocating,” she said. Due to council budget constraints this could be some years away.

Van Tonder said the group had viewed potential sites: one off Hurstmere Rd, above Hurstmere Green, and the other in Waiwharariki Anzac Square. “Both sites require an alteration of the existing memorial so the next step is for council to look at what can be engineered and what it will cost.”

If the Hurstmere Rd site is preferred, the local board would need to find a way to fund that, whereas a location in the square could fall under the remit of council property arm Eke Panuku, which is transforming the old central car park into a mix of public space and private developments.

Van Tonder said relocation was desirable. “Currently, the memorial is located on private land, and it’s not in an inclusive space that accommodates all those who attend. The current placement also requires the cadets who lower the flags to traverse through garden beds and this isn’t ideal. We will be able to address those design faults in a new location.”

Shifting the memorial to council-owned land provided better control and certainty for the future, she said. More discussions would be held when information became available, she said.

As well as van Tonder, the meeting was attended by board deputy chair, Terence Harpur, and member George Wood, along with Devonport RSA president Muzz Kennett and members Chris Mullane and Ron Turner, the Anzac Day parade master Alex Kopenall, North Shore Brass president Owen Melhuish, representatives of Eke Panuku, and staff from the local board and council’s civic events and parks teams.

Makeover to promote use of Milford hall

The Milford Senior Citizens Club Hall is undergoing a makeover in an attempt to make itself more known. A Milford-themed mural will be painted on its exterior, depicting the beach and the estuary.

The president of Milford Senior Citizens Club (MSCC), Norma Bott, says she hopes the “bright and cheerful” makeover will make more locals aware of the hall, which is behind the New World supermarket. Signage is changing to the club’s initials, to better represent it as a private club with community ideals, says Bott, who wants more members and more groups to hire the hall.

Raising funds would allow the MSCC committee to tackle other work, including roofing and curtaining.

“There’s been lots of people stopping and saying it’s going to look fantastic.”

Bott hopes to extend the hours of a community library opened in the hall nearly a year ago to Saturday mornings. In time a children’s storytelling session was an aim.

Veteran politician O’Connor still lobbying on park

Former Devonport-Takapuna Local Board deputy chair Jan O’Connor has written to Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown berating the council over the state of Potters Park in Takapuna.

A member of the Friends of Potters Park, O’Connor believes too much of the reserve is fenced off. After council parks and local board staff could not explain why, she also approached council property arm Eke Panuku.

She said nearly an eighth of the park, given to the public by Frederick Seymour Potter 94 years ago, has for more than a month been fenced off, limiting green play space.

“This illegal fence must be removed immediately,” she wrote to Mayor Brown. At press time had not yet received a reply.

O’Connor – who was defeated in last year’s local body elections – fought while on the board last year against a temporary toilet being sited on the playground corner of the park during Eke Panuku’s ongoing construction of the town square which required the old concrete block toilets to be demolished. She and her Heart of the Shore colleagues cited the park’s Deed of Gift, in voting against a request for the board to approve the temporary toilet, but later reversed their position after public comments that users would be caught short.

New permanent public toilets will be built in the square eventually, near the playground, but this could take several years.

The Observer asked Eke Panuku last week what the fence was for. In an email response to O’Connor, also copied to the paper, a spokesperson said: “Currently there is safety fencing installed in Potters Park while the interface between the park and the edge of the square is built and some drainage works completed.”

The fencing was for safety and to protect trees, said the email. It would remain for the next few weeks, allowing grass to re-establish.

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