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August 13, 2014
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Environmentalism takes root at Mahurangi schools what’sonline Farmland was transformed into forest this month, after students from Mahurangi College and Snells Beach School planted 1600 natives as part of an initiative to improve water quality. The Trees for Survival programme is run nationwide in a collaboration between Rotary, regional councils, landowners and schools to increase plantings around waterways to prevent erosion and sediment entering streams. The trees are nursed from seedlings by school pupils as part of the science curriculum. After a year tending to the plants, the pupils spend a day planting on a local farm. Rotary contributes $650 to each school, while Council distributes seedlings and coordinates with landowners. The recent planting was on a property on Sandspit Road which forms part of the Mahurangi Farm Forestry Trail – a track under construction continued page 2
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Mahurangi Rugby Year 4 Snells Beach pupil Ethan Bayer, 9, got stuck into planting with his grandma Avis Bayer and Year 4 pupil Morgan Grace-Meredith, 9.
Under 19s final result and photos
Supercity opposition heads to High Court The Northern Action Group (NAG) has filed an appeal against last month’s decision by the Local Government Commission not to assess its bid to establish an independent North Rodney Unitary Authority. The appeal will be heard in the High Court and breathes new life into the campaign to separate from
Auckland Council. NAG chairman Bill Townson says the commission’s decision treated North Rodney and NAG with contempt and didn’t take the proposal seriously. “Nobody likes to be bullied by bureaucracy and I don’t like to see democracy being undermined. This goes right back to when the then Local
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Government Minister Rodney Hide decided to disregard his own Select Committee’s recommendation that North Rodney not be included in the supercity.” The appeal will address the three principle reasons that the Commission gave for refusing to consider assessing the proposal. They were:
• That the description of the North Rodney area wasn’t adequate • That the whole of Auckland hadn’t been canvassed for support • That it wasn’t in the public interest to assess the proposal. Mr Townson says NAG consulted
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