Arts Portfolio
It was a pleasure to go to the ASB cinema for the film festival. A number of theatres are
opening their doors again in August (the Basement) and others in September. This is
offering an opportunity for local artists to perform in larger venues and reach new audiences
without the dazzle of many international stars. There is likely to be some changes in the arts
and events sector this year. While council budgets have been cut overall for the arts the
Waitemata Local Board are keen to support the sector including maintaining our partnership
with TAPAC. It will be very sad to see some extremely talented council staff let go.

Herne Bay Issues
There are a number of local issues:
1. There are concerns that there will be insufficient parking spaces for the Northern
Pathway and there are fears that there will be few parks for people to fish, or to enjoy
Westhaven or to cycle across the bridge. There are thousands of tourists anticipated.
These views have been presented to Waka Kotahi (the NZ Transport Agency) and a
solution will hopefully be found. It is desirable that people do not drive there but as
there are some parks there then people may expect to do so. For people fishing off
the wharf carparking is presumably essential.

2. There are concerns of the Unitary Plan Change 26. Some old villas and houses are
built up against the boundary which means they need to occasionally access the
neighbouring house to do maintenance like paint walls. There can be other issues
with regard the need to access and remediate foundations that are being
experienced by other constituents in Freeman’s Bay. Submissions on this were
presented in the last term but is worth revisiting with the new Unitary Plan.

3. Street trees. A number of street trees are dead in Bella Vista Drive and Sarsfield
Street. They would like them to be replaced with fast growing species that provide
shade. I have followed this up with the Community Facilities team. We are at the end
of the growing season now. Staff will come back to me to tell me the plans with
regard how these trees will fit into the Urban Ngahere Strategy.

4. Helicopters. The owners of 15 Cremorne Street are keen to vary their resource
consent to optimise when they can use their allocated flights which currently must be
spread through the year with maximum movements per day and per week. It seems
likely that if granted this will mean more helicopter movements in summer. As the
house is close to a public beach this is likely to reduce the pleasure of residents
across Herne Bay and beyond can take in their public reserves. It seems unlikely that
this consent would be granted if it was a new application as there have been
changes to the plan so as to discourage helicopter use. The WLB feel that any
variations to consents that are likely to increase the number of helicopter movements
should be refused and have recommended full public notification. It has also been
alleged that the existing resource consent conditions have been breached a number
of times. Whatever the outcome of this application the WLB would expect that any
future breaches result in the end of use of the helipad. The application is currently on
hold pending the outcome of written approvals sought. When these come (or don’t come in)
he will make a recommendation that will be overseen by his team leader and an
independent commissioner.

5. Stormwater concerns. The Emergency Budget has cut the stormwater maintenance
budget by a third to the levels of the old Auckland Councils which in themselves were
insufficient. I am aware that there are discussions around water and proposed new
regional water authorities. While the emphasis is particularly on improving water
potability, this should also impact positively on waste water systems which in turn
should reduce contamination of storm water. There has been under investment in
water systems for decades however and it is a concern to see drop off in
maintenance funding whatever new strategy for water is adopted.