Transparency is vital to our democracy

Being an elected member for Auckland Council is a privilege. But it also comes with responsibilities and we're remunerated for our time. We're not volunteers and it's reasonable to expect that we turn up to do our job.

As part of providing transparency, Auckland Council publishes the attendance for elected members at business meetings and workshops. For Local Boards, these are published every quarter and available online for the whole term.

For some reason, Auckland Council reports and publishes this information differently for the Governing Body (Mayor and Councillor) with only the past 3 months showing. There also appears to be some gaps in the data, so I've asked for the information for the full term.

In the meantime, I've collated the Howick Local Board data for the last term (January 2023 to June 2025). Over this period we had a total of 36 business meetings and 92 workshops.

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Absences may be due to leave, illness, bereavement or attending other council business - we don't record the reasons for members being away, you'd need to ask them. We also don't record any difference between online or in-person attendance - I've asked staff if we can do this but I'm told it's not current practice.

You'll note I was absent for two workshops - for one (May 2023) I was on leave (for my partners significant birthday) and another I was at the Governing Body trying to advocate for our community. I also attended one workshop online as I was sick, and we've had two workshops entirely online due to technology issues. Otherwise I have been present in the room for every workshop and business meeting this term.

You can see more (including the source data, other local boards and councillors) on the Auckland Council website: https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/about-auckland-council/performance-transparency/Pages/attendance-governing-body-meetings.aspx

Consultation on Kerrykeel Drive, Flat Bush

Ormiston Primary School, along with residents, parents and the wider Flat Bush community, has raised concerns about pedestrian safety and high traffic speeds in the vicinity of the school.

In response, the Howick Local Board asked Auckland Transport to investigate improvements to make the roads safer and easier to navigate for everyone, especially for tamariki using Kerrykeel Drive.

The proposed changes are:
1️⃣At the Kerrykeel Drive/Arranmore Drive roundabout:
🚧two road-level zebra crossings on the eastern and western sides of the roundabout (replacing refuge islands)
🚧 new pedestrian refuge island crossing on Arranmore Drive

Eleven on-street parking spaces near the crossings will be reprioritised as “no stopping at all times” zones and marked with broken yellow lines to improve visibility near pedestrian crossings.

2️⃣On Kerrykeel Drive (near Springside Drive)
🚧 Upgrade the existing pedestrian refuge island crossing to a school patrolled road level zebra crossing.
🚧 installing high friction surfacing on the approaches to the zebra crossing to make it easier for drivers to stop more quickly and safely when approaching a pedestrian crossing
🚧 New cycle ramps and widened footpath on the northern side of the crossing to assist with cyclist movements

Public consultation is open until 6 August. You can find out more, including how to have your say, here: https://haveyoursay.at.govt.nz/kerrykeel-drive-arranmore-drive-roundabout

Consultation on Sunnyview Ave

In response to community concerns about the lack of crossing facilities on Sunnyview Avenue, the Howick Local Board asked Auckland Transport to investigate options to make it safer for children and families to get to Shelly Park Primary School.

The proposal is to:
🚧 install a new zebra crossing on Sunnyview Avenue, monitored by school patrols
🚧 install new pram crossings and street lighting on either side of the crossing
🚧 replace 5 kerbside parking spaces between the school bus stop and the new crossing with broken yellow lines (no stopping at all times).

Shelly Park Primary School and the community dental clinic will be more accessible. It will be easier for tamariki and whānau to walk, bike or scoot to school. Road markings and parking changes will make it easier to see pedestrians. This will make them safer.

If you have questions or feedback you can phone 09 355 3553 or email atengagement@at.govt.nz with the subject line ‘Shelly Park Primary School crossing’.

Before construction begins, Auckland Transport will contact residents directly affected by the works.

Consultation on Stage 2, The Parade Bucklands Beach

The Parade on Bucklands Beach is a popular destination for families and local residents. After years of complaints and concerns from local residents about unsafe driving, the Howick Local Board asked Auckland Transport to improve safety through speed calming.

In October 2024, construction was completed on Stage One of the improvements which (based on public consultation) included one raised crossing and three speed bumps.

Phase two will continue at five locations chosen based on pedestrian demand, traffic surveys, and safety analysis.

Site 1: Devon Road and 23 The Parade
🚧 install a new pram crossing with kerb buildouts on Devon Road
🚧 install new side islands and refuge island outside 23 The Parade

Site 2: 41 The Parade
🚧 install new side islands with pram crossings

Site 3: Wharf Road intersection
🚧 install additional zebra crossings along The Parade at existing raised intersection
🚧 install new lighting

Site 4: 55 The Parade
🚧 install new side islands with pram crossings
🚧 install small section of footpath to connect to Grangers Point

Site 5: Laings Road
🚧 install splitter island and formalise Give-Way control at carpark
extend broken yellow lines around the bends to ensure the required sight line is maintained

As with Stage One, public feedback is helpful for us to understand what you think will work and what needs to change. We made significant changes to Stage One based on public feedback, delivering a more cost effective and safer road for everyone.

Public consultation closes on Friday 8 August. You can find out more, including how to have your say, here: https://haveyoursay.at.govt.nz/the-parade-bucklands-beach-pedestrian-improvements-stage-2

Fixing funding of local boards

We need $216.5M to maintain our assets over the next 10 years, but we’ve only been allocated $114.1M.

At our workshop last week, the Howick Local Board received an update about our asset portfolio and it was pretty confronting. Over the next 9 years, we need $216.5M to maintain our existing assets (like playgrounds, libraries, and leisure centres). But Auckland Council has only allocated us $114.1M, leaving a 47% gap!

We've got enough funding to cover our priority renewals (those in the worst shape), but if we don't maintain all assets they will degrade, reducing their ability to serve the community. Deferring maintenance leads to higher costs in the future as parts break.

We're looking at all options to help close this gap, including changing how we deliver services to rely less on physical assets, optimising the assets we do have, and working with partners to deliver outcomes. But the scale of the challenge means none of this will be easy.

Council have two main funding sources for our assets:
🛠 operational expenses (like day-to-day maintenance, utilities) are covered by rates ($3B), fees ($1.9B) and other revenue ($1.3B).
🏗 capital expenses (like major renewals, new assets) are funded through operating revenue ($1.1B), subsidies ($0.9B), and debt ($1.7B) which is paid off over the lifetime of the asset (like you would a mortgage). To keep the interest manageable, council tries to keep the debt below 250% of revenue (270% absolute max).

New assets can also get funding from development contributions ($0.2B) which is a charge that properly developers pay to help fund assets in the area they're building. These funds cannot be used for anything other than the asset they were collected for.

The good news for Howick Local Board is that our venues for hire (valued at $4.5M) are generating enough revenue from hirage to cover their own day-to-day expenses. But as these buildings need more significant renewal, we need capital funding. And our libraries (valued at $32M), pool and leisure centres (valued at $15.6M) need upgrading so they can keep pace with our growing, changing population as well as shifts in technology and demands. And we know our playgrounds aren’t delivering what our communities need, with gaps especially in Flat Bush.

It’s important to note that Local Boards don't determine what our budget is, we only get (some) control over where our allocated budget goes. How much money each Local Board gets is decided by the Governing Body made up of the Mayor and 20 Councillors. Funding used to be based on what assets we had plus some discretionary funding, but this year we’ve moved to a different formula (known as fairer funding) which is based on population (80%), deprivation (15%), and land area (5%). For example, Howick has the largest population (160k), but lower deprivation (11%) and land area (69.7km2).

The Governing Body decides how much money they want Local Boards to have, then staff allocate it using this formula. Local Boards get less than 10minutes every year to present our feedback and beg for the resources we need to serve our communities. And not all the Councillors even bother to turn up to listen.

Auckland Council group OPEX from Long Term Plan 2024-2034

While the 21 local boards have a huge impact on their communities, they represent a small part of a large complex organisation. To put this into context:
🛠 Auckland Council operating budget for this year is $5,133M – all local boards are $491M (5%) and Howick is $37M (0.7%, 3rd highest).
🏗 Auckland Council’s capital budget for this year is $4,274M while all local boards are $212M (5%) and Howick is $10M (0.2%, 6th highest)

The cause of these issues go back before the creation of Auckland Council, with legacy councils building assets that they couldn’t afford to maintain. But even since the amalgamation, decisions have compounded the issues – like not fully funding depreciation until now so debt has ballooned. And in 2020, Auckland Council passed an emergency budget which slashed the capital spending. For Howick Local Board, the capital funding for 2021 went from a planned $20M to $1.5M. While it’s slowly increased over time, it’s never come back to the previous levels and never enough to compensate for the deferred maintenance.

Some budget pressure can be helpful - it makes us challenge decisions and focus on prioritising what’s important. The Howick Local Board has achieved significant savings over the past few years AND managed to deliver more value for our communities. But the growing gap is leaving our assets in a poor state and forcing us to make short-term decisions to balance our budgets.

This is a challenge across Auckland so there's a regionwide portfolio review underway to provide quality advice to local boards. We're expecting staff to come back to us in November and December with more information for the newly elected Board, with the intention of putting in place a plan by July 2026. This will be a major challenge for the new Howick Local Board to tackle.

Fixing the underlying issues will take longer but is essential for a thriving city. In my opinion:
💰 our budgeting process needs more focus on the outcomes – what do we need, not just what we’ve always done
👥 local boards need more opportunities for genuine involvement in regional decisions – we know our communities, help us serve them better
🏘 council needs to be more agile and responsive – we’re too slow and cumbersome, weighed down by complex structures
📑 staff need to provide more quality advice to elected members so we’re making the right decisions – 15 years to develop asset management plans is too slow
🏛 government needs to provide councils more funding sources so they’re not relying on debt and rates – portion of GST would be a good start

Because our workshop are open to the public, the materials are published online: https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2025/07/20250724_HLBWC_ATT_13171_WEB.htm

Consultation on Howick Sailing Club

The Howick Sailing Club has asked the Howick Local Board to consider granting them an extension to their lease at Howick Beach to allow them to create a larger storage shed (next to their existing building).

This is what they've said about the application:

"The club is in the early stages of a proposed infrastructure project to help assure the future of the club. We have several different issues that we’re trying to resolve;
The location of the club rooms over the water affords us an amazing view at our beautiful location. However it exposes the storage of club and club member assets under the club rooms to the potential effects of any sea level rise.

We are currently having to store club RHIBs and the tractor at club members properties. This option is not viable long term. We need the space at the beach area to store these.

We are finding that fewer members have the available space at their properties to store their sailors boats. This project will provide some space for sailors to have their boats at the club like the majority of other yacht clubs around the city. The vast majority of our sailors are kids. Being able to store boats at the beach would enable them to be more active and less reliant on parental spare time to transport boats backwards and forwards.

Our proposed lease application is for a building that joins onto the current Learn To Sail/Waterwise kiosk. It would occupy a space that is not currently used other than by a walkway which would be slightly re-routed. The embankment is steep and the sloped scoria wall is not an inviting place to sit and relax. On the roof of the new building we would provide a level platform upon which the public could relax and enjoy the environment."

This will result in an additional building footprint of 148m2 for leasing purposes (or a total of 164m2 when including the cantilevered portion of the viewing deck that extends over the existing carparking area). The project also involves the realignment of an existing path with stairs, removal of a rubbish bin and a section of rock retaining wall beside the carpark as shown in the plans.

Because this might have an impact on other users of the beach area, it's important that the public has an opportunity to have their say. Therefore Auckland Council has publicly notified the request and is seeking feedback until 5pm Friday 15 August.

A notice was also placed in this weeks Times newspaper. An earlier notice incorrectly said the area was 16m2 so it's been re-notified.

You can find out more about the request, including how to have your say here: https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/have-your-say/public-notices/Pages/community-lease-4r-granger-road-howick-howick-sailing-club.aspx

Progressing Flat Bush Library and Community Hub and Aquatic and Leisure Centre projects!

Flat Bush has grown quickly but the community infrastructure has not keep up. Two key facilities that have been promised for nearly two decades but never delivered are the Community Centre and Library, and the Pool and Leisure Centre. These have been priorities for the Howick Local Board but funding challenges within Auckland Council mean that we haven't made much progress. This is about to change.

At our recent meeting on Thursday 17 July, the Howick Local Board formally asked staff to advance to a focused planning phase, building on previous work and community engagement.

Much has changed since the last review was completed in 2019 and before we invest the $83M allocated for these facilities we want to ensure we're building what the community needs. We're also taking the opportunity to review where these will be built and exploring opportunities for partnerships.

The Community Centre and Library are planned for Block K next to the Ormiston Town Centre, while the Pool and Leisure Centre is planned for Barry Curtis Park (it was originally planned for Block B). We now have the option of combining Blocks K and G for both facilities which might be a better outcome - the review will help understand this option.

Don't worry the review won't take years - it's expected to be completed within the next few months, back in time for early 2026 when our new Board (including dedicated Flat Bush representatives) are in place.

For those interested the full report is available on our public agenda item 15: https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2025/07/20250717_HW_AGN_11594_WEB.htm

More improvements for Highland Park Library!

As part of the Howick Local Board multi-year renewal project of the much-loved Highland Park Library, more improvements are coming soon.

Firstly, the layout for the public toilets will be changed to turn one toilet into two. We'll also bring them both up to modern accessible standards.

Two new canopies will offer much-needed shade to the external courtyard. During summer, it’s bustling with kids’ activities and other events. By installing shade, the same area can also be used more often, increasing library space just in time for Summer.

A few trees in the courtyard are being removed as they create a mess and slip risks. To compensate, additional trees will be planted near the library entrance.

Works start on Monday 21 July with the toilets planned to be completed by mid-September and the external area by late-October.

Howick Local Board attendance at meetings April to June 2025.

As part of providing transparency, Auckland Council publishes the attendance for elected members at business meetings and workshops.

Here is the Howick Local Board result for April to June 2025.

Absences may be due to leave, illness, bereavement or attending other council business.

You can see more (including previous reports, other local boards and councillors) on the Auckland Council website: https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/about-auckland-council/performance-transparency/Pages/attendance-governing-body-meetings.aspx

Road safety dashboard provides transparency

In the past 5 years, 15 people were killed on roads within the Howick Local Board. 162 received serious injuries (requiring medical or hospital care) and 947 received minor injures.

That's too high - in fact New Zealand has the 4th highest rate of road deaths of high-income countries. Accounting for population, NZ has nearly twice as many deaths as Australia and nearly four times the UK.

To help us better understand when and where these crashes are happening, Auckland Transport has created an interactive Local Board Crash Data Dashboard, with data sourced and authorised by NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi's crash analysis system (CAS).

There are some limitations on the data - not every crash is reported. Analysis by Auckland Transport showed more people are admitted to hospital overnight for injuries resulting from crashes than reported in CAS. And there is a delay in the data becoming available. But it's the best data we have and it's used across NZ.

And it's now available for everyone in a user friendly dashboard.

You can filter by year, local board, and type of injury. The data is presented using visual heat map, so you can see the areas where there are more crashes. If you zoom in, you can see the details on each incident.

You can find out more about the dashboard here: https://at.govt.nz/about-us/reports-publications/where-crashes-are-happening-in-auckland

Howick Local Board business meeting summary for June 2025

On Thursday 19 June, the Howick Local Board held our fifth regular business meeting of the year. Here’s a summary of some of the key discussions and outcomes. At the end there are links to the official minutes and recordings of our meetings.

🗣 Deputations regarding parkour, litter intelligence, East Auckland Tourism.
📑 Feedback on tsunami resilience project, waste legislation changes
✅ Approval of quick response grants, reallocation of underspend funds, temporary library for Flat Bush, work programmes for next year, road names
📊 Reviewed lease and landowner approval for Howick Sailing Club

After the initial formalities of the welcome, we noted the declarations of interest and confirmed the previous minutes.

We had a number of acknowledgements:

• Dame Ranjna Patel DNZM on her appointment as DNZM for services to ethnic communities, health, and family violence prevention. A resident of Sunnyhills, she is a multi-award-winning leader and advocate for community wellbeing, whose initiatives have made a lasting impact across New Zealand.

• Professor George Clifton on his appointment as CNZM for services to structural engineering. Howick resident Professor Clifton is an internationally recognised authority on the structural and fire response of multi-storey steel framed buildings and their construction.

• Laurinne Laing on her appointment as MNZM for services to sports and people with intellectual disabilities. A resident of Mellons Bay, Mrs Laing has volunteered for the Special Olympics Howick-Pakuranga club for 35 years, volunteering 30 to 40 hours per week for sports coordination, fundraising, volunteer and athlete recruitment, as well as guidance to athletes and their families.

• Julia Castles on being awarded a Kings Service Medal for services to language education and migrant communities. A resident of Mellons Bay, Mrs Castles has worked for more than 42 years to provide English language tuition and settlement support to refugees and migrants in South Auckland.

• Penelope-Jane Frost on being awarded a Kings Service Medal for services to children and social work. A resident of Bucklands Beach, Mrs Frost has been Auckland Regional Manager for the Stand Children’s Services – Tū Maia Whānau since 2002, having been involved with Stand Children’s Services in various roles since 1978.

• Howick and Pakūranga Toy Library on 30 years of community service. Based at the Howick Presbyterian Church, the toy library works on a membership system with over 200 families involved.

We received a deputation from NZ Parkour presenting opportunities to include parkour facilities in our local area. They had some compelling information about cost effective ways to deliver the first purpose-built parkour in Auckland, and we asked staff to provide advice on options to achieve this.

We then received a deputation from Sam Judd of Sustainable Coastlines talking us through a pilot project that they’d completed to capture the litter and rubbish in Flat Bush. The formal report was due shortly and we agreed to arrange a more detailed discussion once it was published.

We had a quick public forum item from BirdCare Aotearoa, with Dr Rashi Parker providing an update on recent developments including rescues and returns completed in the Howick Local Board area.

Then our third and final deputation from East Auckland Tourism, with Chair Andrew Laing presenting their annual update. It was great to see the range of projects and activities they had delivered over the past year including the launch of their new tourism map.

Every month we allocate a slot for our Ward Councillors to provide an update. Unfortunately, due to scheduling clashes, they are usually unable to attend. To accommodate this, they agreed to provide a written report when there are board-specific updates to share. No report was received for this meeting.

I presented my Chairpersons Report for the month, detailing what we had been focused on since the last meeting. We’d be working hard on our upcoming work programmes, which we’d approve later in the meeting.

We reviewed and approved the responses to the Howick Local Board Quick Response Grants, with forty applications requesting $112k. Unfortunately, some of the groups had not provided the required accountability reporting and were ineligible. We approved 33 applications totalling $64k, with the others declined due to lack of accountability reporting, or low reach.

Next we considered a report from staff regarding reallocation of underspend funds from other projects, including what was left from the grants fund. We allocated it to Pest Free Howick, reducing the burden on our budget for the following year.

In exciting news for Flat Bush, we approved a proposal to open a temporary library service at the Ormiston Town Centre! After nearly 20 years of promises of a community centre and library, we’ve managed to secure $83M over the next 9 years to build these much-needed facilities. However, in the meantime we’ve secured space for 5 years to provide library services sooner. This required a significant investment of $489k in the first half-year and $870k for every subsequent year – we’d spent the last few months working through our stretched budget to squeeze every dollar we could to make this happen.

Next we approved our Community Services and Environmental work programmes for the following year. These provide staff the budget and direction to deliver projects and activities from July 2025 through to June 2026. With only $57k extra in funding and the temporary library requiring significant investment, we were limited in our ability to add new projects. However, we managed to add a few new initiatives to monitor water quality, tackle illegal dumping in Flat Bush, and support community-led environmental action.

We were asked to consider a request to provide a lease and landowner approval for Howick Sailing Club who want to extend their storage building at Howick Beach. However, there was some confusion with the content of the report compared to a workshop, so the Board voted to defer the item to allow time to workshop it again.

We approved road names in Flat Bush, with the extension of Argento Avenue and new road Takarore Crescent.

Auckland Emergency Management has developed recommendations to increase tsunami resilience and asked the public for their feedback. We were asked for our feedback before it goes to the Civil Defence and Emergency Management Committee in September. While there was only four responses from local residents, there was strong support across Auckland (80% supporting all or most of the recommendations). We supported the recommendations, although we noted that the modelling did not seem to consider low lying land.

We noted our urgent decision providing feedback on proposed waste legislation changes. Urgent decisions are used to make decisions outside of the normal Board meetings – not ideal, especially for feedback, but due to government timeframes we had no choice. We supported the move towards product stewardship and greater enforcement of “mismanaged waste”.

We noted our workshop records and forward governance work calendar before closing the meeting at 3:43pm.

Minutes of the meeting are available here:
https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2025/06/20250619_HW_MIN_11593_WEB.htm
along with related attachments like presentations here:
https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2025/06/20250619_HW_MAT_11593_WEB.htm

A recording of the meeting is available here, along with previous meetings: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNiuqKCzobSzQ05kCv2JI2iefmDp2_tEh

Our next normal Business Meeting is scheduled for Thursday 17 July at 12noon at the Pakūranga Library building in Aylesbury Street.

These are open to the public to attend and observe, although you need to request a slot if you would like to speak (so we can make sure we provide time).

Speed calming for Bradbury Road

⚠️Bradbury Road speed calming construction begins soon

Local residents and the Howick Local Board asked Auckland Transport to look into making Bradbury Road safer.

There’s a history of drivers travelling above the speed limit, particularly during morning and afternoon peaks, as Bradbury Road is commonly used as a shortcut to access other main roads in the area.

To improve safety for drivers and the community, speed cushions will be installed at five locations along Bradbury Road together with side islands. See the image for an example of what this will look like.

Speed cushions are cheaper than a normal speed bump, don't impact larger vehicles like buses or smaller ones like bikes, and allow for stormwater to flow. They're not pedestrian crossing points - studies showed there was low demand for crossings along the road.

🚧Installing speed cushions and side islands outside number 31, 73, 101, 131 and 159 Bradbury Road.
🚧Repainting the existing bus stops on Bradbury Road.
🚧 Painting new road markings and installing new signage to support the changes. No stopping at all times (broken yellow) lines will be painted at the bus stops except for 131 Bradbury Road (which already has them).

Works are planned to start on Monday 11 July and continue through to 31 July (as required). Construction will happen overnight to reduce the impact on traffic and is weather dependent.

Bradbury Road will be closed overnight during the works. If you live along this road, traffic controllers on site will help you access your property. Detours will be in place to redirect traffic around the work sites.

On-street parking will be limited. You may need to either park on your property or on a side road and walk to your property.

Works will create noise and vibration; the contractor will do their best to keep noise levels down.

You can find more about the project here: https://haveyoursay.at.govt.nz/bradbury-road-speed-calming

"We do not want you to forget the country of your birth"

"We do not want you to forget the country of your birth, nor that your children lose their heritage and cultural roots, but instead further add to the fabric of Aotearoa New Zealand."

One of the most enjoyable duties as a local board member is being involved in Citizenship Ceremonys. Each event is a massive celebration of the journey that our newest citizens have taken to arrive at this point, and it's a privilege to be a part of it.

On Tuesday, fellow Howick Local Board members Adele White JP and John Spiller, Manurewa Local Board member Andrew Lesa JP, and I took the citizenship oaths for 319 new New Zealanders from 25 different countries of origin.

Delivered in all three official languages, it was a fantastic experience and a pleasure to be a part of.

Progress on Mill Road good news for locals

Recently the Howick Local Board received an update from NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi about the Mill Road Project. This has been selected by the Government as part of their Roads of National Significance (RONS).

The project will deliver a 21.5km four-lane corrior parallel to SH1, providing more efficient and resilient transport options between Flat Bush, Manukau, Manurewa, Papakura, and Drury.

The Howick Local Board has supported this project on the basis it would address the safety issues that many local residents face every day. With it's origins back in 2009, its good to see that this project starting to make progress. We're very focused on the northern end of the project which will be delivered in Stage 1, including a signalised intersection for Murphys and Redoubt Road.

They project has also confirmed that the intersections of Murphys/Thomas Roads, and Murphys Road/Murphys Park Drive are no longer in scope, leaving them to Auckland Transport to address. We're pleased to get this clarification and are actively working with AT to make progress as quickly as possible.

Stage 1 is working through design and consenting, with construction planned to commence in mid-2026 starting with Alfriston Roundabout and some of Redoubt Road. Estimated completion for Stage 1 is 2032.

More information about the project can be found here:
https://nzta.govt.nz/projects/south-auckland-projects/mill-road/

You can see the presentation we received in our open workshop here: https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2025/06/20250612_HLBWC_ATT_13166_WEB.htm

Temporary Library for Flat Bush coming soon!

Thursday 19 June 2025 was a massive day as the Howick Local Board signed off the funding required to deliver a temporary library in Flat Bush!

We’ve been working hard to secure funding for the much-needed Flat Bush Community Centre and Library, as well as the Pool and Leisure centre. With funding allocated over the next nine years, we remain committed to delivering these essential community facilities as soon as possible.

In the meantime, locals will have access to core library services like the Auckland Library collection of books and more, computers, printing, activities.

Some key points:

• Annual investment of $870k (first half-year $489k) plus one-off capital $640k (some will be reusable in the permanent space).

• Expected to open in Quarter Three (January 2026).

• Lease for five years with the option to extend

• Will operate 55 hours per week over seven days (10-6pm Mon-Sat, 10-5pm Sun).

• Smaller footprint (185sq m) means more focused delivery.

  • Book a librarian and customer service support

  • Physical space to connect, use and enjoy with minimal library programming.

  • Physical library collection browsing and check outs, including self-check out, holds pick-up, and returns.

  • Public computers with photocopying/printing/scanning, and wifi.

We know providing a space for our community to grow and connect is critical and we’re pleased to be able to achieve this sooner.

More details on the full permanent facility (and pool) coming soon.

Howick Local Board Business Meeting report for May 2025

On Thursday 15 May, the Howick Local Board held our fourth regular business meeting of the year. Here’s a summary of some of the key discussions and outcomes. At the end there are links to the official minutes and recordings of our meetings.

🗣 Deputations regarding Marina Fitness, and All Hands Aotearoa
📑 Feedback on business improvement district (BID) targeted rates
✅ Approval of Marina Fitness lease, local dog access rules; Bradbury Road transport project; Sport and Active Recreation Facilities Plan; leases for Bucklands and Eastern Beaches Tennis Club, EastFM, Scouts, Bucklands Beach Bowling Club, Bucklands Beach Association Football, and East Skate Club
📊 Reviewed Quarter Three Performance Report

After the initial formalities of the welcome, we noted the declarations of interest and confirmed the previous minutes.

We had a huge turnout from the public for the Marina Fitness item, more than our meeting room could fit so staff provided a viewing area in the Pakūranga Library as well as options to observe online. I moved up the deputations, public forum, and the item itself so we could focus on that before moving onto other business.

We received a deputation from Dr Colleen Rigby and Glenn Ross who represented a group of Marina Fitness members. They made a well presented case for maintaining the service at Marina Fitness, connecting their presentation to our strategic local board plan.

We then had four public forum items on Marina Fitness - Jocelyn Cameron, Adi Gibbs, and Oranus Prapasiri, and Hoffman Lau. Each spoke about the importance of the service to them, providing context and different reasons to keep the service running.

We then considered the Marina Fitness lease expiry item, starting with a briefing from staff on the key information within the report. Marina Fitness is unique as the only council-run fitness facility that isn’t in a council-owned building. When we considered the lease last year, Auckland Council was undertaking a regional review of the pool and leisure network. Given this might have major impacts (such as outsourcing) and staff were recommending we close it, we voted to extend the lease for one year. Ultimately there were no regional changes and with the lease due to end on 16 August, staff presented three options for us to consider: renew the lease, look at outsourcing, or not renew it.

People love the service, with 97% customer satisfaction and a high number of regular users. There are more than 750 people active members of Marina Fitness, and visits have been growing steadily (up 14% compared to last year). As of February 2025, Marina Fitness had a year-to-date net profit of $94,963.20, although this was $70,471.19 behind budget. The expected rent was within budget even when adjusted for CPI.

After a good discussion, we voted to continue the lease for a further three years (Option one) while noting that a further 3-year Right of Renewal clause remains available for consideration in 2028. Based on public feedback, we also empowered staff to enter a six-year lease if that was beneficial.

We took a short break to allow most of the public to depart and also stretch our legs 90 minutes into the meeting.

Every month we allocate a slot for our Ward Councillors to provide an update. Unfortunately, due to scheduling clashes, they are usually unable to attend. To accommodate this, they agreed to provide a written report when there are board-specific updates to share. No report was received for this meeting.

I presented my Chairpersons Report for the month, detailing what we had been focused on since the last meeting. It included the commemoration of Anzac Day and the sign unveiling at Windross Walkway by the Cockle Bay Residents and Ratepayers Association.

Next we turned our attention to deliberation on proposed changes to local dog access rules. We had proposed to change the rules for Lloyd Elsmore Park to be “dogs allowed under control on a leash within 10m of the Howick Historical Village”. Because this is a regulatory function, we needed to follow a specific procedure and we had staff from the Policy team to assist us. Firstly, we received and accepted all feedback from the local community, including one late item. Then we discussed the implications of the feedback, along with staff advice on the ways to respond while remaining consistent with the regional rules and legislation. We noted that 58% of the local feedback was in support, with 34% opposed, while the regional feedback only had 46% in support. We noted that the 10m rule was similar to the existing rule that required dogs under control on a leash near sports fields and playgrounds within Lloyd Elsmore Park. We voted to adopt the proposed changes as publicly notified, which will take effect on 1 August.

Next we received our second deputation from Dr. M. Waseem Soomro of All Hands Aotearoa. It was helpful to understand the work that this group is doing to improve digital and numerical literacy for elderly and youth.

At this point, Member Bungard had to leave the meeting for another commitment.

Then Auckland Transport presented their report on one of our projects and two of theirs. They asked us to authorise them to move to detailed design and construction of the speed calming measures on Bradbury Road, which we did. They also asked for our support for two of their projects - at-grade zebra pedestrian crossing on Flat Bush School Road near Arranmore Drive and install improved pedestrian facilities and other safety features on Stancombe Street near Erica Street, which we did.

Next we endorsed the targeted rates for our local Business Improvement Districts (BID). These are collected by Auckland Council but every dollar goes to the BID to use. The values are requested by the business associations and confirmed by their membership at their AGM. We endorse the rates ($211,622.94 for Howick Village Association and $612,379.00 for Business East Tāmaki).

In 2015, the Howick Local Board adopted our Sport and Active Recreation Facilities Plan which helps provide strategic direction on investment, advocacy, partnerships and opportunities within the sport and recreation facility network. This was refreshed in 2018, and this was the latest update from 2024. It’s good to see that a number of the high priority projects were already underway, but we still have more work to do.

Next we worked through six community leases. In 2023 the Governing Body (Mayor and Councillors) adopted new Community Occupancy Guidelines which included moving away from what’s referred to as a ‘peppercorn rent’ of $1 if requested (effectively free) to $1,300 per year. We’ve taken the approach of staggering the rent increase over three years ($500, $900, $1,300) to help reduce the impact on community groups, forgoing the revenue in the short-term.

First up was a renewal for the Bucklands and Eastern Beaches Tennis Club at Rogers Park. We staggered their rent and agreed to the ten-year term (as per their right of renewal).

Next was the Howick Radio Charitable Trust who operate the not-for-profit EastFM. Staff recommended a 5-year lease but their previous term had expired in 2023 so we extended it to 8 years so they would get the full 5 years. We staggered their rent increases in line with our normal practice.

At this point, Deputy Burns had to leave the meeting for another commitment.

We reviewed the lease for Scouts Howick together with the Bucklands Beach Bowling Club in a single report (saving staff time and money). We granted Scouts a 10-year lease (with one right of renewal) while Bowling Club was granted a 5-year lease, both with staggered increasing rents.

At this point, Member Turinsky had to leave the meeting for another commitment. During this time we temporarily lost quorum – we must always have at least five members physically in the room (online doesn’t count). Once they returned, we continued.

We reviewed a proposal to lease a small piece of land to the Bucklands Beach Association Football Club for their storage shed at Wiliam Green Domain. Given that it was only 14sq meters and they were already paying for a lease at Rogers Park, the Board agreed to reduce the rent for this site to a ‘peppercorn rent’ of $1 if requested (effectively free).

Our last lease of the day was for East Skate Club who were seeking a space at Lloyd Elsmore Park for a storage container and space next to the skatepark for a new skatebowl. The container would be used to store their equipment (like skateboards, helmets) used to activate the skatepark. The Howick Local Board is delivering an upgraded skatepark but couldn’t afford to deliver the skatebowl – by granting East Skate Club a lease over the space, this would allow them to fundraise for it, including accessing funders we couldn’t. There was some discussion from members about the proposed rent (staff recommended $1,300) and Members Kendall and Collings moved an amendment to reduce the rent to a ‘peppercorn rent’ of $1 if requested (effectively free). This failed to get the votes required but we did recognise that this was different from our normal leases and reduced the rent to $100, $200 and then $500 per year. Member Kendall requested his dissenting vote against the rent be recorded.

Our last major item for the day was to receive the Quarter Three Performance Report. Covering the January to March 2025, the report showed that 95% or 117 of our projects were on track. Operating revenue was below budget (mostly due to unrealistic pool and leisure centre budgets set by staff), while expenditure was slightly above budget.

Due to good financial and commercial decisions, we had some additional revenue to allocate. Staff recommended we allocate the $145k to the Howick Village BID Expansion ($10k), Howick Youth Council ($15k), and East Auckland Youth Space ($120k) which we did. This frees up funding in the next financial year, which we can then allocate to other projects.

We noted our workshop records and forward governance work calendar before closing the meeting at 4:39pm.

Minutes of the meeting are available here:
https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2025/05/20250515_HW_MIN_11592_WEB.htm
along with related attachments like presentations here:
https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2025/05/20250515_HW_ATT_11592_WEB.htm
https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2025/05/20250515_HW_ATT_11592_EXCLUDED_WEB.htm
https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2025/05/20250515_HW_MAT_11592_WEB.htm

A recording of the meeting is available here, along with previous meetings: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNiuqKCzobSzQ05kCv2JI2iefmDp2_tEh

Our next normal Business Meeting is scheduled for Thursday 19 June at 12noon at the Pakūranga Library building in Aylesbury Street.

These are open to the public to attend and observe, although you need to request a slot if you would like to speak (so we can make sure we provide time).

Future of Marina Fitness confirmed

Pleased to report that last week the Howick Local Board voted to confirm that Marina Fitness remain open for at least the next 3 years.

“We’re proud of the mahi of the Marina Fitness staff ensuring locals remain healthy and active. This dedication to the local community was reflected in the strong public support for the continuation of the service. Together with the solid financial results, it’s clear that this service is needed in our community.”

Thank you to everyone who contacted us in support of Marina Fitness. Your passionate, genuine, and heartfelt input made this decision much easier.

Read more here: https://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/news/2025/05/full-house-backs-marina-fitness/

Howick Local Board advocating for better outcomes

I travelled into the city centre on Wednesday 14 May to speak to the Auckland Council Governing Body and present the Howick Local Board feedback into the annual plan.

We're asking for

• continued focus on delivering cost effective services while acknowledging costs are going up

• pause on increases to dog management fees to ensure more people can afford to be responsible owners

• ongoing support for the Flat Bush Community Centre and Library

• regional funding to restore our beaches

Together with the other Southern Local Boards we'll be advocating for

• better quality and timely advice for all elected members, especially financial info

• greater involvement of LBs in decisions regarding growth

• better outcomes for the Tāmaki Estuary and Manukau Harbour, with investment matching the significance of these waterways

• greater resources for enforcement and compliance

You can read our full feedback here: https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2025/05/20250501_HW_MIN_13178_WEB.htm

And video recordings of the presentations can be found here: https://youtu.be/nAj0zBwqwpw?si=nWs8jeaPumVtqtc1

Kotahitangi (unity) on display at UXBRIDGE

Beautiful and moving occasion on Saturday as the community gathered with mana whenua, Kāhui Ariki (Māori royal family), and representatives of kīngitanga (Māori royals).

It was an opportunity to acknowledge the legacy of Emilia Maude Nixon who came to Howick in 1925. And the incredible mahi (work) of Whaea Taini Drummond who has been kaitaki (guardian) of O Wairoa Marae since 1983.

Strongly encourage everyone to visit the taonga (treasures) on display at UXBRIDGE Arts & Culture until 21 June.

Howick Local Board Business Meeting Report for April 2025

On Thursday 17 April, the Howick Local Board held our third business meeting of the year. Here’s a summary of some of the key discussions and outcomes. At the end there are links to the official minutes and recordings of our meetings.

🗣 Deputations from Pakūranga Early Learning Centre, New Zealand Ethnic Social Services, and public forum from Howick Ratepayers and Residents Association.

📑 Feedback on decision-making resulting from disestablishment of Eke Panuku and downsizing of Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, draft Contributions Policy 2025, Time of Use Charging Bill, proposed dog policy and bylaw, proposed wastewater environmental performance standards

✅ Approval of Local Board Transport Capital projects, endorsed Auckland Open Space, Sport and Recreation Strategy, Community Grant guidelines and Round Two Grants, Howick Play Plan.

After the initial formalities of the welcome, we approved Deputy Bo Burns and Member Bruce Kendall joining online, and accepted an apology from Member Katrina Bungard for her absence. We noted the declarations of interest and confirmed the previous minutes.

We acknowledged Subash Chandar K on being named the Local Hero of the Year at the 2025 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Awards. A mathematics teacher at Ormiston Junior College in Flat Bush, he has been described as “a game-changing mathematics educator who has made a significant impact on students across Aotearoa New Zealand since 2013”.

We received a deputation from the Barnardos Early Learning Centre Pakuranga. They explained the mahi they do looking after local tamariki, especially those with financial challenges. More than just childcare, they provide wrap around services for whānau in need. With the ongoing cost of living crisis, their services are more in demand than ever before. They invited us to visit them to see their work in action, which we’ll do in the near future.

Our second deputation was from New Zealand Ethnic Social Services. They’ve been operating since 2003 and have evolved their services to meet the needs of their communities such as wellbeing and navigation, counselling and mental health, youth services, and increasingly dealing with family harm. While they provide services to anyone who needs them, they specialise in Middle Eastern communities with the ability to provide services in English, Farsi, Arabic, Turkish, Urdu, and Hindi.

We had a public forum item from the Howick Ratepayers and Residents Association Inc. Janet Dickson raised concerns about the limited protections in place for Stockade Hill and that their attempt to have the site heritage listed was waiting for an official outcome. We asked staff to provide us with an update on the listing process.

Next Auckland Transport presented options for our Local Board Transport Capital Fund – provided for boards to deliver small transport projects in addition to those led by Auckland Transport. Last year AT delivered safety improvements on The Parade in Bucklands Beach and we asked them to complete speed and pedestrian surveys to confirm these had worked as well as identifying other opportunities. Together with feedback from the public consultation, they had identified some additional sites further north on The Parade plus the intersection at Laings Road. After robust discussion, we agreed to fund the remaining sites (subject to public consultation) and pedestrian improvements for Cook Street. We nominated pedestrian crossing improvements near the Kilimanjaro Drive playground as a contingency project if funds became available.

Late last year, the Governing Body (Mayor and Councillors) voted to change the structure for the Council Controlled Organisations. Eke Panuku would be disestablished (which we opposed), with urban regeneration and property management moved into Auckland Council. And Tātaki Auckland Unlimited’s economic development function would be moved to Auckland Council, while they would retain major events and management of regional facilities like Aotea Centre and Auckland Zoo. We had the opportunity to provide our feedback on the new allocation of decision-making, which we supported while stressing that council must provide sufficient resources to support the increased local board decision-making including access to quality advice in a timely manner.

We endorsed the updated draft Manaaki Tāmaki Makaurau: Auckland Open Space, Sport and Recreation Strategy. Our previous feedback was that it lacked consideration of local board decision-making which staff had addressed in the updated version. We agreed with a capacity-based approach which means council should focus on delivering open spaces than currently enabled in high- and medium-density areas where residents have low or moderate levels of provision.

Every month we allocate a slot for our Ward Councillors to provide an update. Unfortunately, due to scheduling clashes, they are usually unable to attend. To accommodate this, they agreed to provide a written report when there are board-specific updates to share. No report was received for this meeting.

I presented my Chairpersons Report for the month, detailing what we had been focused on since the last meeting. I noted the success of Te Tuhi’s Celebrating Culture Pop-Up, our EnviroSchools Tour, and the strong support for Marina Fitness (due to be decided in May).

Next we approved next year’s Community Grant programme, with similar guidelines and dates to this year. We stressed the need for groups to provide accountability reporting so we had confidence in how public money was being spent.

We then worked through the Local Grants Round Two applications, which saw 41 applications for $361k. Unfortunately, several applications were not eligible as they had not completed their accountability reports from previous grants – while we wanted to support these projects, we must ensure that public money is appropriately spent so couldn’t grant them more money. We approved a total of $126,177.73.

Next we adopted our first Howick Play Plan which provides information and project suggestions to increase the range of play opportunities we offer. Much of this is less formal play which is quicker and cheaper to provide, allowing us to do more for less. As we tackle the challenges of limited funding, having more flexibility for providing play across the rohe is a significant step forward.

We provided our feedback on the draft Contributions Policy 2025 which will set the development contributions for the next few years (the Government has signalled they plan to replace the system with something better). We asked that there is greater transparency over how the money is collected, kept, and spent for the benefit of local boards, council, developers, and the public.

Next we considered our input into the Land Transport Management (Time of Use Charging) Amendment Bill. We’ve provided some early feedback before the legislation was developed, asking for a system that is effective, transparent, and does not unfairly punish those without alternative transport choice. The Board had concerns that the alternative options (like public transport) were not sufficient to provide residents with real choice and any congestion charge would be almost unavoidable. Therefore, we did not support the implementation of Time of Use Charging until there are sufficient alternative transport options that provide real alternatives. Until we have a more reliable, better connected and faster transport system we cannot ask commuters to pay more via time of use charging.

We provided our feedback into council’s proposal to amend dog policy and bylaw (separate from the local dog access rules). We noted that despite the strong response, the demographic breakdown suggests that the input is not representative of the entire population of Auckland or Howick. We supported the request of the Professional Dog Walkers Association (with 3,456 signatures) to explore a license for professional dog walkers as a sensible compromise that will provide for greater control of dogs without making commercial operations impossible. We also reiterated our previous resolution (supported by public feedback) that we “believe that enforcement is critical to the success of any rule and continue to advocate for greater resources to enforce this and other bylaws.”

We noted our urgent decision into Auckland Council's submission on the proposed wastewater environmental performance standards, which was required before our meeting so had to be managed outside of that process. Our feedback asked the percentage of discharge is managed so that the receiving environment is not overwhelmed and kept below scientifically proven percentages ensuring native biodiversity is not degraded, and the ability to swim is maintained. And where the receiving environment is currently being overwhelmed by discharge (as a percentage), that urgency is given to ensuring that planning is done and made publicly available as to when water quality improvements will be seen.

We noted our workshop records and forward governance work calendar before closing the meeting at 3:09pm.

Minutes of the meeting are available here:
https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2025/04/20250417_HW_MIN_11591_WEB.htm
along with related attachments like presentations here:
https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2025/04/20250417_HW_ATT_11591_WEB.htm (warning this is large with many attachments)
https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2025/04/20250417_HW_MAT_11591_WEB.htm

A recording of the meeting is available here, along with previous meetings: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNiuqKCzobSzQ05kCv2JI2iefmDp2_tEh

Our next normal Business Meeting is scheduled for Thursday 15 May at 12noon at the Pakuranga Library building in Aylesbury Street.

These are open to the public to attend and observe, although you need to request a slot if you would like to speak (so we can make sure we provide time).