LOCAL NEWS
Richard Northey: Waitemat-a Local Board Chair
Parnell Festival of Roses
The Waitemat-a Local Board, like everyone else, is adapting to the end of a COVID-19 lockdown and of a general election campaign. At its meeting on 20 October the Waitemata- Local Board resolved formally to congratulate the successful election candidates, particularly the electorate MPs who now represent our Board area, Jacinda Ardern, Chlöe Swarbrick, David Seymour and Peeni Henare, and undertook to work with them to advance the interests of our area and its people. We are also fortunate to have committed and capable List MPs who stood for our electorates: Melissa Lee, Helen White, Paul Goldsmith, Camilla Belich and Marama Davidson. Now we are back to Level 1 we can participate in and enjoy public events. The Waitemata- Local Board’s main annual event is the Parnell Festival of Roses. This will be held in the Rose Gardens and Dove Myer Robinson Park off Gladstone Road in Parnell on Sunday 15 November from 11:30am to 4pm. This is a great family celebration of fun, music, food, and community stalls and enjoying the beautiful roses, which should be in full bloom at that time. I look forward to seeing you there. Another wonderful festival that the Waitemat-a Local Board supports, the Festival Italiano, will be taking place the previous Sunday 8 November from 11am to 5pm. This is a great celebration of Italian food, products and culture taking place in the pedestrianised streets Osborne Street, Kent Street and Teed Street behind the Rialto Cinema in Newmarket. The future of the Leys Institute will be decided early next year by Council’s governing body as part of its decision making on Council’s Long Term Plan. In September the Waitemata- Local Board resolved unanimously to “endorse the... restoration, modernisation and seismic remediation of Leys Institute... as soon as practicable.” The Board also resolved to “recognise that there is strong community support for the early restoration and enhanced public use of the Leys Institute buildings”. The restoration of the Leys Institute buildings and the creation of a park at 254 Ponsonby Road will be major points in the Board’s own advocacy to the Governing Body about what should be prioritised in Council’s next Long-Term Plan. When the time comes, early next year, it would be helpful for you to make a submission about this. We carried out a consultation with our local community about our proposed Waitemata- Local Board Plan. At a special 3 November
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meeting we will decide on which of your ideas are priorities and that we have the capacity to respond to, to put in our Board Plan, which will guide our actions for the next three years. At our special 3 November meeting we will also consider the future of the forest on the eastern slopes of the Western Springs Park. Because of their age and disease, many of the pine trees there are now believed to represent a danger and therefore that part of the park has had to be closed. The Board has long wanted to help grow a healthy restored and regenerating native forest there. We are talking with the Western Springs community and with independent experts so we can decide whether this can best be achieved by the full removal of the pine stand or by gradual selective pine tree removal over several years. Ponsonby Road has been chosen as one of four projects in the Waitemata- Local Board area for the Innovating Streets Tactical Urbanism Programme. We resolved at our meeting to ask Auckland Transport to work closely with the Ponsonby community and businesses to make the Ponsonby Road corridor safer and more user friendly for fun, getting around and business growth. Because of the continuing drought we all still need to limit our water use. Although the Board office will remain closed at times with staff and Board members working from home, I can be contacted on 021 534 546 or E: richard.northey@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz (RICHARD NORTHEY) PN PUBLISHED FIRST FRIDAY EACH MONTH (except January)
