The following is the submission made to the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance by the Campbells Bay Residents and Ratepayers Association.
http://www.royalcommission.govt.nz/rccms.nsf/0/CC2573E80010C73BCC257432000F455B?open
Thursday, 12 November 2009
Monday, 26 October 2009
Chairman’s Message
Taken from the Campbells Bay Times October 2009
Welcome to the first issue of Campbells Bay Times – the official newsletter of Campbells Bay Residents & Ratepayers Association.
Welcome to the first issue of Campbells Bay Times – the official newsletter of Campbells Bay Residents & Ratepayers Association.
With the Super City start-up just a year away, we are entering a time of significant change in the way Campbells Bay and all Auckland’s suburbs are managed by local government. We will lose our current small community board and will have to work through a larger council, or board, in dealing with the new Auckland Council. In terms of leverage and getting things done your local Campbells Bay Residents & Ratepayers Association is going to be an even more important voice for the bay. With this in mind, we want to improve our communication with local Residents. This, our first printed newsletter, is a trial. We welcome your feedback on whether you like it and would like it to become a regular feature of life in Campbells Bay.
Your association holds regular public meetings but we also maintain an email list of members - and interested non-members – which allows us to communicate rapidly with those interested in local issues. We are careful not to flood email in-boxes but instead send out relevant information from time to time. If you would like to be on this list, please email campbellsbayrandr(at)gmail.com giving us your name(s). We will not pass this information on to any other person or group.
If you are not a member and would like to be, please internet bank $5 per household into the Campbells Bay Residents & Ratepayers Association ASB account 12-3050-0390530-00. Write ‘subscription’ and your name in the payee statement details; or post/deliver $5 to 16 Sandford Street or 100A Park Rise. We do not deliver receipts but will acknowledge your subscription by email - as long as we have your email address.
I look forward to a challenging time ahead with your committee - helping to enhance the quality of life in Campbells Bay.
Max Thomson (Chairman, Campbells Bay Residents & Ratepayers Association)
Neighbourhood Watch Needs Action
Taken from the Campbells Bay Times October 2009
Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator John Stewart, who spoke at the Residents & Ratepayers AGM in June, would like a bit more action in Campbells Bay. Stewart says police statistics record an average of 21 residential burglaries on the North Shore each week – the lowest rate in New Zealand - “but this does not preclude residents being vigilant and taking a common sense approach to security and safety.” Campbells Bay has eight listed co-ordinators on the Neighbourhood Watch data base but none of these groups is considered active under the new criteria - which stipulate each group must have provided an updated member list within the last six to nine months. “We are moving towards a more accountable organisation and more accurate statistics are being gathered, in collaboration with the Police. This will only be of value if Neighbourhood Watch groups are recorded as active.” Stewart’s other concern is theft from vehicles: “Don’t leave items on view in parked vehicles. Not even sunglasses or umbrellas. The results are vehicle damage and inconvenience. It’s just not worth it.”
Email those Neighbourhood Watch member lists to John on: admin(at)neighbourhood.org.nz
Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator John Stewart, who spoke at the Residents & Ratepayers AGM in June, would like a bit more action in Campbells Bay. Stewart says police statistics record an average of 21 residential burglaries on the North Shore each week – the lowest rate in New Zealand - “but this does not preclude residents being vigilant and taking a common sense approach to security and safety.” Campbells Bay has eight listed co-ordinators on the Neighbourhood Watch data base but none of these groups is considered active under the new criteria - which stipulate each group must have provided an updated member list within the last six to nine months. “We are moving towards a more accountable organisation and more accurate statistics are being gathered, in collaboration with the Police. This will only be of value if Neighbourhood Watch groups are recorded as active.” Stewart’s other concern is theft from vehicles: “Don’t leave items on view in parked vehicles. Not even sunglasses or umbrellas. The results are vehicle damage and inconvenience. It’s just not worth it.”
Email those Neighbourhood Watch member lists to John on: admin(at)neighbourhood.org.nz
Broadband Blues
Taken from the Campbells Bay Times October 2009
Thirteen years after the launch of Xtra, all Campbells Bay Residents can finally get broadband. While Telecom has made large profits over the last few years, we have had to suffer either complete non-availability or very slow and unreliable broadband. The lines from the Browns Bay exchange were installed around 1940, using old stock which was insulated not with plastic but with paper and tar. As many residents know, when it rained there would often be a complete loss of broadband and sometimes telephone services as well, due to water entering the cables. Sadly, the new ADSL2+ technology that Telecom has installed is not performing. ADSL2+ should deliver 24 Mbps and Telecom promised 7 Mbps. This writer is only getting around 5 Mbps. The reason, according to one Telecom installer, is that the rest of the network is still highly deficient. To make matters worse, we are paying far more than world prices for this inferior service. The only bit of comfort is that dial up access runs, at the most, at 0.5 Mbps. At least we all can have broadband now and it is around ten times faster than dial up.
David Haysom (Residents & Ratepayers Association committee member)
Thirteen years after the launch of Xtra, all Campbells Bay Residents can finally get broadband. While Telecom has made large profits over the last few years, we have had to suffer either complete non-availability or very slow and unreliable broadband. The lines from the Browns Bay exchange were installed around 1940, using old stock which was insulated not with plastic but with paper and tar. As many residents know, when it rained there would often be a complete loss of broadband and sometimes telephone services as well, due to water entering the cables. Sadly, the new ADSL2+ technology that Telecom has installed is not performing. ADSL2+ should deliver 24 Mbps and Telecom promised 7 Mbps. This writer is only getting around 5 Mbps. The reason, according to one Telecom installer, is that the rest of the network is still highly deficient. To make matters worse, we are paying far more than world prices for this inferior service. The only bit of comfort is that dial up access runs, at the most, at 0.5 Mbps. At least we all can have broadband now and it is around ten times faster than dial up.
David Haysom (Residents & Ratepayers Association committee member)
All Aboard CBUS
Taken from the Campbells Bay Times October 2009
Campbells Bay is blessed with large areas of native bush and a fabulous beach. Centennial Park is the bay’s green heart - a 28-hectare native forest restoration project that has been ongoing for more than 30 years. Weeds and weed trees, such as pines, have been controlled and thousands of native trees planted and fostered. As a result, the bay’s bird life is bountiful - tui, kereru, morepork and about 30 other species are regularly observed. Centennial Park Bush Society is working on a pest control plan for the park - rats, possums and cats kill wildlife. Outside the park, the bay has good green cover including significant stands of native trees along the north branch of the stream and at the northern end of the beach.
Campbells Bay Urban Sanctuary (CBUS) project, launched earlier this year, aims to extend the “remove weeds, encourage natives and control pests” concept to the entire catchment. The integrity of native bush areas is under threat from weed invasion, including aggressive weed trees such as privet and monkey apple. Mature native trees may come under threat from the RMA simplifying and streamlining amendment which became law in September. CBUS also encourages landowners to manage animal pests such as rats. CBUS accord members include the Bush Society, Residents & Ratepayers Association, Pupuke Golf Club, Campbells Bay Tennis Club, Campbells Bay School, Forest and Bird, the Wilcox family, Mairangi Walking Network and All Hallows Church. We’d love to have you on board. For more information: www.campbellsbayurbansanctuary.org.nz
Richard Hursthouse (Chairman, Centennial Park Bush Society)
Campbells Bay is blessed with large areas of native bush and a fabulous beach. Centennial Park is the bay’s green heart - a 28-hectare native forest restoration project that has been ongoing for more than 30 years. Weeds and weed trees, such as pines, have been controlled and thousands of native trees planted and fostered. As a result, the bay’s bird life is bountiful - tui, kereru, morepork and about 30 other species are regularly observed. Centennial Park Bush Society is working on a pest control plan for the park - rats, possums and cats kill wildlife. Outside the park, the bay has good green cover including significant stands of native trees along the north branch of the stream and at the northern end of the beach.
Campbells Bay Urban Sanctuary (CBUS) project, launched earlier this year, aims to extend the “remove weeds, encourage natives and control pests” concept to the entire catchment. The integrity of native bush areas is under threat from weed invasion, including aggressive weed trees such as privet and monkey apple. Mature native trees may come under threat from the RMA simplifying and streamlining amendment which became law in September. CBUS also encourages landowners to manage animal pests such as rats. CBUS accord members include the Bush Society, Residents & Ratepayers Association, Pupuke Golf Club, Campbells Bay Tennis Club, Campbells Bay School, Forest and Bird, the Wilcox family, Mairangi Walking Network and All Hallows Church. We’d love to have you on board. For more information: www.campbellsbayurbansanctuary.org.nz
Richard Hursthouse (Chairman, Centennial Park Bush Society)
Concrete History
Taken from the Campbells Bay Times October 2009
Today the ridges and slopes behind Campbells Bay are prized for their views over the Hauraki Gulf, and out to the distant shoulder of Coromandel and the detached humps of the Barriers: a natural vista, crisscrossed by pleasure craft and innocent cargo vessels. It wasn't always so. As New Zealand commemorates the 70th anniversary of our entry into World War II – “Where Britain goes, we go.” - we are reminded that our cliff-tops, ridges and slopes were vantage points for another purpose: Campbells Bay shared in the nation's coastal defence. On key sites squat, reinforced concrete bunkers or 'pill boxes' were constructed, their oblong 'eyes' facing the Gulf. From within their thick claustrophobic walls, the men on coastal watch kept vigil for the first sight of the sinister outlines of an invading navy. Fortunately for us, even through the tense, vulnerable years of 1940-2, the horizon remained clear.
Recently, the Wednesday workers of the Centennial Park Bush Society cleared some of the accumulated earth and debris from one such Campbells Bay bunker. It is located a few minutes along the Mamaku Track from its junction with the Baylis Track - by the 13th tee of the golf course. While it is an ugly relic of past hostilities, it is also to be valued as a tangible part of our local history.
Peter Aimer
Today the ridges and slopes behind Campbells Bay are prized for their views over the Hauraki Gulf, and out to the distant shoulder of Coromandel and the detached humps of the Barriers: a natural vista, crisscrossed by pleasure craft and innocent cargo vessels. It wasn't always so. As New Zealand commemorates the 70th anniversary of our entry into World War II – “Where Britain goes, we go.” - we are reminded that our cliff-tops, ridges and slopes were vantage points for another purpose: Campbells Bay shared in the nation's coastal defence. On key sites squat, reinforced concrete bunkers or 'pill boxes' were constructed, their oblong 'eyes' facing the Gulf. From within their thick claustrophobic walls, the men on coastal watch kept vigil for the first sight of the sinister outlines of an invading navy. Fortunately for us, even through the tense, vulnerable years of 1940-2, the horizon remained clear.
Recently, the Wednesday workers of the Centennial Park Bush Society cleared some of the accumulated earth and debris from one such Campbells Bay bunker. It is located a few minutes along the Mamaku Track from its junction with the Baylis Track - by the 13th tee of the golf course. While it is an ugly relic of past hostilities, it is also to be valued as a tangible part of our local history.
Peter Aimer
Shining Spring
Taken from the Campbells Bay Times October 2009
Thanks to Centennial Park and the bay’s wealth of mature garden and roadside trees, spring always brings a flood of birdsong to Campbells Bay – but the bird which really steals the show is the shining cuckoo, or pipiwharauroa. The shining cuckoo’s far-carrying, distinctive song is a series of ascending whistles finishing with a plaintive, descending piuuu, piuuu. Once learned, it is instantly recognisable and never forgotten. Little bigger than a sparrow, the shining cuckoo arrives in September from winter quarters in the Solomon Islands and Bismarck Archipelago. Like many cuckoos, it is a brood parasite - laying its eggs in the nests of the diminutive grey warbler or riroriro – a common species in Centennial Park.
The grey warbler’s survival strategy is to start breeding in early September and rear a clutch before the first cuckoo eggs are laid into the second clutch in October. Shining cuckoos are more often heard than seen but many are found dead or stunned after flying into windows. In the hand they reveal a glossy bronze-green back and finely barred white underparts. The North Island’s first 2009 report of a shining cuckoo call was September 8, at East Tamaki Heights.Make a note of when you hear pipiwharauroa in Campbells Bay and send us an email.
Alan Emmerson (Chairman, North Shore Forest & Bird)
Thanks to Centennial Park and the bay’s wealth of mature garden and roadside trees, spring always brings a flood of birdsong to Campbells Bay – but the bird which really steals the show is the shining cuckoo, or pipiwharauroa. The shining cuckoo’s far-carrying, distinctive song is a series of ascending whistles finishing with a plaintive, descending piuuu, piuuu. Once learned, it is instantly recognisable and never forgotten. Little bigger than a sparrow, the shining cuckoo arrives in September from winter quarters in the Solomon Islands and Bismarck Archipelago. Like many cuckoos, it is a brood parasite - laying its eggs in the nests of the diminutive grey warbler or riroriro – a common species in Centennial Park.
The grey warbler’s survival strategy is to start breeding in early September and rear a clutch before the first cuckoo eggs are laid into the second clutch in October. Shining cuckoos are more often heard than seen but many are found dead or stunned after flying into windows. In the hand they reveal a glossy bronze-green back and finely barred white underparts. The North Island’s first 2009 report of a shining cuckoo call was September 8, at East Tamaki Heights.Make a note of when you hear pipiwharauroa in Campbells Bay and send us an email.
Alan Emmerson (Chairman, North Shore Forest & Bird)
Christmas Party – 13 December
Taken from the Campbells Bay Times October 2009
Pack up a picnic, round up the rellies and come along to Campbells Bay’s 2009 Christmas Party.
Date: Sunday 13 December
Time: 3 to 5pm
Venue: Huntly Reserve, Huntly Road.
Lolly scramble, drawing competition, kite flying and a visit from Santa. This event is being co-hosted by Campbells Bay Residents & Ratepayers Association and the Centennial Park Bush Society. Everyone welcome.
Organisers: Catharina Mail and Jackie Howell
Pack up a picnic, round up the rellies and come along to Campbells Bay’s 2009 Christmas Party.
Date: Sunday 13 December
Time: 3 to 5pm
Venue: Huntly Reserve, Huntly Road.
Lolly scramble, drawing competition, kite flying and a visit from Santa. This event is being co-hosted by Campbells Bay Residents & Ratepayers Association and the Centennial Park Bush Society. Everyone welcome.
Organisers: Catharina Mail and Jackie Howell
Full Stream Ahead
Taken from the Campbells Bay Times October 2009
Residents can expect some disruption at Huntly Road if the council’s stream engineering works go ahead in early 2010. Stormwater project engineer Bruce Palmer has informed the Residents & Ratepayers Association that North Shore City Council is currently seeking consents from owners, affected parties and the North Shore City Parks Department for the construction of a new retaining wall for Campbells Bay Stream – to help prevent erosion and stormwater damage.
The plans require a three-metre strip of recently-planted native vegetation along the stream bank to be removed and two mature trees near the bus stop to be felled, to allow access for a 20-tonne excavator for drilling and earthworks. An in-ground retaining wall, rip-rap rocks and planted, soil-filled socks will then be constructed. Replanting of a selection of native plants will follow – but not until autumn. Council’s planned start-date is mid-January with completion expected by mid-March.
For more information contact Bruce Palmer on: bruce.palmer(at)northshorecity.govt.nz
Residents can expect some disruption at Huntly Road if the council’s stream engineering works go ahead in early 2010. Stormwater project engineer Bruce Palmer has informed the Residents & Ratepayers Association that North Shore City Council is currently seeking consents from owners, affected parties and the North Shore City Parks Department for the construction of a new retaining wall for Campbells Bay Stream – to help prevent erosion and stormwater damage.
The plans require a three-metre strip of recently-planted native vegetation along the stream bank to be removed and two mature trees near the bus stop to be felled, to allow access for a 20-tonne excavator for drilling and earthworks. An in-ground retaining wall, rip-rap rocks and planted, soil-filled socks will then be constructed. Replanting of a selection of native plants will follow – but not until autumn. Council’s planned start-date is mid-January with completion expected by mid-March.
For more information contact Bruce Palmer on: bruce.palmer(at)northshorecity.govt.nz
Property Bouncing Back
Taken from the Campbells Bay Times October 2009
Graeme Udy, who heads Harcourts Top Bays Realty in Campbells Bay, reports the East Coast Bays property market has been performing exceptionally well since the start of 2009. “I can confidently say we have more buyers willing and able to purchase immediately than we have property available for sale,” says Udy. Well-presented realistically-priced houses in Campbells Bay are selling quickly, especially those in the medium price bracket - $400,000 to $800,000.
Real Estate Institute of New Zealand figures record 18 dwellings sold in Campbells Bay during 2008, whereas 25 have sold in the eight months to the end of August 2009. The average price of a house in East Coast Bays is $542,500, compared with $740,000 for Campbells Bay and properties are taking an average of 31 days to sell. Udy says the upper end of the market was hard hit during 2008 but is now showing signs of bouncing back. Top Campbells Bay price so far this year? Around the $4 million mark for a cliff top residence. “All the indicators point to a very buoyant market for the remaining months of this year,” says Udy.
Residents with an eye for art may like to view works by local painter Lance O’Gorman -- currently on display at Harcourts.
Graeme Udy, who heads Harcourts Top Bays Realty in Campbells Bay, reports the East Coast Bays property market has been performing exceptionally well since the start of 2009. “I can confidently say we have more buyers willing and able to purchase immediately than we have property available for sale,” says Udy. Well-presented realistically-priced houses in Campbells Bay are selling quickly, especially those in the medium price bracket - $400,000 to $800,000.
Real Estate Institute of New Zealand figures record 18 dwellings sold in Campbells Bay during 2008, whereas 25 have sold in the eight months to the end of August 2009. The average price of a house in East Coast Bays is $542,500, compared with $740,000 for Campbells Bay and properties are taking an average of 31 days to sell. Udy says the upper end of the market was hard hit during 2008 but is now showing signs of bouncing back. Top Campbells Bay price so far this year? Around the $4 million mark for a cliff top residence. “All the indicators point to a very buoyant market for the remaining months of this year,” says Udy.
Residents with an eye for art may like to view works by local painter Lance O’Gorman -- currently on display at Harcourts.
Park Passion Recognised
Taken from the Campbells Bay Times October 2009
Takapuna Community Board chair Martin Lawes, who presented the award, paid tribute to Dr Hursthouse’s commitment to the North Shore’s environmental wellbeing and future and his leadership role in three local ecological restoration projects: Campbells Bay Primary School community forest, Centennial Park bush restoration and the restoration of Tuff Crater at Northcote – Forest & Bird’s key North Shore environmental project. Martin Lawes said Dr Hursthouse’s specific “passion” was Centennial Park.
Invited to comment, Dr Hursthouse said: "I feel humbled to be offered this award. It is a reflection of the support the community has given the Bush Society and a recognition of the positive changes occurring in Centennial Park - which are due to the efforts of many people. We can build on this to ensure the success of the Campbells Bay Urban Sanctuary. It is also a reminder that, in the face of intense pressure on our environment from development, we need to actively look after our wild spaces."
Centennial Park Bush Society chair and local resident Dr Richard Hursthouse, was among 14 North Shore recipients of a 2008 North Shore City Council civic award - presented at a ceremony in Takapuna on September 21 2009.
Invited to comment, Dr Hursthouse said: "I feel humbled to be offered this award. It is a reflection of the support the community has given the Bush Society and a recognition of the positive changes occurring in Centennial Park - which are due to the efforts of many people. We can build on this to ensure the success of the Campbells Bay Urban Sanctuary. It is also a reminder that, in the face of intense pressure on our environment from development, we need to actively look after our wild spaces."
Mayor Andrew Williams presents Dr Richard Hursthouse with his Civic Award (Above)
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