It has been a year of pride and progress for the North Shore. Our people and our many communities have flourished despite a difficult economic climate and the uncertainty of great change to our local democracy.
This final Annual Report of the North Shore City Council is both a chance to celebrate our success over the last 12 months, and also an opportunity to quietly reflect on the many gains made on behalf of our citizens over the 21 years since we became a city.
We can all be proud of the unique community and lifestyle of the North Shore that we have built together, and in the determination of the many citizens who, over the years, have dedicated themselves to making ‘the Shore’ a better place to raise our families, grow our businesses, and enjoy our lives.
Auckland Governance
Significant changes to the way the greater Auckland region is governed will see North Shore City replaced with the new Auckland Council from 1 November this year.
Your council made extensive and detailed submissions on each of the three pieces of legislation establishing the new governance arrangements, following consultation with the community. Our main focus was on strong democratic representation, especially at the second tier level. Our submissions were effective in winning some change in the final legislation ensuring that members of the Auckland Council are elected from wards representing defined communities, but less effective in convincing the government in Wellington to empower the new local boards with their own statutory authority and also to guarantee the continued public ownership of strategic assets such as water assets.
The new arrangements will see the retention of the council service centre in Takapuna to provide a hub for service delivery across the North Shore, which goes some way toward achieving our goal of ensuring the high quality of community services, that have become a hallmark of the existing council and that residents and ratepayers expect, are maintained and enhanced.
After November, the interests of the North Shore will be represented on the new council in Queen Street by four local city councillors, two elected from each of the new Albany Ward and North Shore Ward respectively. In addition, a total of 28 local board members will serve their communities on the Hibiscus and Bays Board, the Upper Harbour Board, the Kaipatiki Board, and the Devonport-Takapuna Board.
A feature of the new governance arrangements is the establishment of a number of new council-controlled organisations or CCOs which will manage transport, water, waterfront development, economic development, tourism and events, property holdings and development, major regional holdings and council investments, on behalf of the Auckland Council, accounting for around seventy five percent of civic activity.
Focusing on our communities
Looking after our communities has always been at the heart of our endeavours. We have been committed to funding community groups and volunteers that provide vital support to the community and to providing the infrastructure and facilities necessary to allow our neighbourhoods to thrive.
A spectacular fireworks display marked the opening of the multi-million dollar Albany Lakes Civic Park and Civic Crescent development and bus station. Drawing on Albany’s rich heritage – from Maori settlement to its days as an orchard area – the Albany Lakes Civic Park features two large lakes, a culturally inspired bridge, water feature, apple trees, Harakeke (New Zealand flax) and a stage for outdoor events. As well as serving as a recreational hub for people, the reserve will be home to local wildlife including dotterels and a frog population. The streetscape of Civic Crescent has been extensively rebuilt to make it a key public space at the heart of Albany. It is laid out with bus priority lanes leading to and from the new bus station, while ensuring a low speed environment for traffic accessing the park and the shopping centre, making the area safer for cyclists and pedestrians.
A new playground at Okura Reserve in East Coast Bays features equipment for children, teens and grown-ups, and is an exciting addition for the semi-rural Okura community. The Okura Reserve has always been a popular spot for rest, relaxation and recreation, with jogging, dog walking and family games enjoyed by reserve users. The playground includes a flying fox, mega swings and hard-court surface for basketball, skating and bike riding, plus junior swings and a ‘spinner’. A path for walking and wheeled activities also runs around the perimeter of the reserve.
The long-awaited Birkenhead Library and Civic Centre opened for business just before Christmas, making the most of its setting amongst established native trees and beautiful views of the Waitemata Harbour and Rangitoto. Home to more than fifty thousand books, local council services, Citizens’ Advice Bureau, community board and community coordinator, and Plunket Rooms, the development incorporates the latest environmentally sustainable design, bringing an essential community and civic focus back to the area. The new Library development was honoured with an excellence award in the Special Purpose Property category of the Property Council NZ Rider Levett Bucknall Awards for 2010, and was nominated for the Green Building Property Award
Pride in the North Shore’s heritage was the impetus for the Historic Heritage Strategy developed to make it easier to identify and protect all our historic heritage resources, and celebrate the city’s fascinating history, for current and future generations. Conservation plans have been commissioned for Chelsea Park, including the Manager’s House and Workers Cottages.
As well as protecting our heritage, protecting and promoting the well-being of our communities has been a focus of the last year, culminating in the hugely successful ‘Passing Go’ conference held at North Harbour Stadium. Jointly organised by Raeburn House and the North Shore Community and Social Services, with support from the North Shore City Council, the conference brought together central government, local government and community sector social policy decision-makers with representatives of the people affected by those decisions, to encourage greater interaction and communications between the two and to encourage on-going dialogue.
Promoting a healthy environment
Renowned for its relaxed lifestyle, attractive natural environment and pristine coastline, the North Shore is a magnet for recreational activity. The council continues to support and encourage programmes and investment that promote a healthy, active lifestyle.
Using some of the funding raised from the recent disposal of the surplus former council works depot, additional investments are planned to further extend the city’s network of walkways and cycleways, and to provide recreational and open space reserve facilities. We are adding more precious coastal and other reserve land for our growing city using reserves acquisition funding and development contributions rather than rates income. Examples include the Chelsea estate and the heritage protection zone at Long Bay, and neighbourhood parks and reserve expansion at Jutland Road, Anzac Street, Bayswater and Mairangi Bay.
Building on the North Shore’s national and international standing in the field of water sports, we are particularly pleased with the planned extension of the Millennium Institute of Sport and Health based in Albany. Jointly funded by central government and the North Shore City Council, the expansion will further strengthen the institute’s position as the national training centre for elite high performance swimming, provide water sport and water safety training for the local community, and offer a world class venue for international water sports events.
We were also delighted to jointly fund along with central government the soon to be built National Ocean Water Sports Centre in Takapuna, which has long been regarded as affording some of the best small boat racing waters in the world. The centre will provide a world class training, sports science and sports medicine facility across multiple disciplines, including sailing, swimming, kayaking and triathlon, and a wonderful vantage point during national and international regattas for competitors, the media and the public alike.
The makeover of the North Shore’s beautiful Bayside Reserve was completed, with some stunning interpretive information panels highlighting the features of the transformed reserve. The council and local Bayside community worked together on improving the look of the reserve and the water quality of the stream, including removing the unsightly 80 metre concrete channel and replacing it with a naturalised stream, upgrading the stormwater pond and installing floating wetlands. Some 120 property owners planted over 4,000 native plants alongside the stream both in the reserve and on private property, completely regenerating the area.
The health and well-being of our 14,000 registered canine companions was enhanced with the completion of the new Northern Animal Shelter, a joint initiative between the North Shore and Rodney councils. Housing up to 40 dogs with room for expansion, the new state of the art facility provides a one stop shop service which allows impounded dogs to be kept in more comfortable surrounding and for owners to recover their pets with greater ease.
Making progress in our key areas
Future-proofing the North Shore wastewater system for years to come, the 116 million dollar Rosedale Wastewater Tunnel and Outfall is the largest public project ever undertaken by the council. The outfall will discharge high quality treated effluent from the Rosedale Waterwater Treatment Plant the 2.6 kilometres to the end of Mairangi Bay and then 2.8 kilometres out into the Rangitoto channel. Designed to not only cope with the rapidly growing needs of our community, the outfall also ensures the city’s unspoiled coastline remains healthy.
Improving our transportation systems and infrastructure has continued to be a major focus. Improvements and upgrading work on crucial routes including Lake Road, East Coast Road and Onewa Road have been given priority, as has the Taharoto Wairau project, which includes widening of the Taharoto, Wairau, Shakespeare Road intersection to align with the new access road to the Smales Farm busway station. The Lake Road upgrade from Jutland Road to Napier Avenue is a continuation of the recently completed Esmonde Road – Lake Road intersection rebuild, with further work under consideration to extend the Lake Road upgrade between Hauraki Road and Belmont.
The Northern Busway has been a runaway success story for public transportation on the North Shore. Over 1.76 million passengers used the Northern Express over the last 12 months, and increase of 19.3 percent on the same period last year. Initiatives underway to make bus travel more accessible to as many people as possible include improvements to park and ride facilities, as well as allowing airport shuttle buses, intercity and other bus operators to use the route.
Cutting through the ‘red tape’ and making it easier to ‘do business’ with council has also been a key focus. Significant gains in improving management of earthworks on small sites were recognised with the awarding of an excellence award in the improved local regulation category of the New Zealand Post Group Local Government Excellence Awards. The innovative use of the Building Act and the Resource Management Act, simplifying inspection and the integration of enforcement between the acts was seen by the judging panel as being a good example of helping customers comply efficiently and economically with regulations.
In the same vein, the council has been applauded for its initiative to streamline the building consent process though the adoption of an innovative new on-line technology platform, that eases the compliance burden on applicants and brings with it the promise of its eventual roll out across the region under the new governance structure.
Growing the local economy through tourism and major events has seen considerable effort invested in the upcoming Rugby World Cup 2011. North Shore has been given the honour of being the host city for the current world champion Springboks and the current ‘six nations’ champions, the French. This is a rare opportunity to showcase our wonderful city to an international audience and demonstrate our laid-back North Shore hospitality. We are also proud to be the host of the 2013 Men’s World Softball Championships, bringing hundreds of players, coaching staff and supporters from all over the world to the North Shore, to compete with our own world-beating Black Sox. Put together, these major sporting events, along with our investment in high performance water sport facilities, helps cement the North Shore reputation as a sports loving lifestyle community.
Planning ahead
The economic situation both nationally and internationally remains uncertain, with recent hints of a possible ‘double dip’ recession in some countries proving unsettling. The underlying budgetary strategy of the council has been one of prudent financial and debt management.
The council recognises the need to deliver best value while meeting our community’s needs. Over the last year, with a close eye on the impacts on our community of the global financial crisis and its aftermath, we have been especially careful on what we spend and how.
We have carefully reviewed our operating expenditure to ensure we are spending money appropriately and on the right things, balancing income with expenditure so as to move our city forward.
This year, council approved the 2009-2024 North Shore City Plan, which provides our part of the platform for integration into the wider spatial and other plans to be developed by the new Auckland Council. It will enable important North Shore environmental and community issues to be better understood and better managed through the amalgamation period and during the process of developing a new plan for the whole of the Auckland region.
A key feature of the new plan has been to significantly reduce the projected rates increases, which for example for the 2010-2011 year has been dropped from a projected 8.6 percent under the former plan down to a more manageable 5.5 percent increase.
Thanks
I would like to thank councillors, community board members and council staff for their hard work and dedication to our community over the year. I would also like to thank the North Shore community, businesses, organisations and volunteer groups who contribute to making North Shore City the diverse and dynamic city that it is.
Although the new Auckland governance arrangements coming into effect in November 2010 will usher in a further period of uncertainty and change as they settle in over time, our North Shore communities are strong and resilient, and our love of ‘the Shore’ and what makes our place such a great place to live will not diminish. Regardless of the decisions made either in Queen Street or in Wellington, ‘the Shore’ will always be ‘the Shore’.
As the last Mayor of North Shore City, I would like to thank every citizen, young and old, from Long Bay to Birkenhead, from Paremoremo to Devonport, for the tremendous honour and privilege it has been to lead our city and play a part in moving our communities forward and building a better place, for current and future generations.
His Worship Andrew Williams, JP
Mayor of North Shore City