Tag: Auckland Council

Public Meeting – Redoubt Road/Mill Road Corridor

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Public Meeting on the 4-lane Corridor

 

Picked up one of these last night after the Alfriston Unitary Plan Community Meeting:

 

I have commented on the project before with my most recent being: “MAYOR SUPPORTS SOUTH EAST HIGHWAY” which also has the link to the information article here: “ROAD PLAN CONCERNS”

 

I will attend the public meeting and rather observe this time round, participate actively as I am affected by the project. The corridor if and when fully completed is five minutes away to the east of where I live and will cause rat-running down a main road I use to get to Papakura Town Centre and Rail Station, will possible spill on effects to my local road as some might use it as a bypass…

 

So a project that hits close to home both here in Papakura and in Manukau along Redoubt Road…

 

All Things Waste

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Unitary Plan and Waste

 

No I am not referring to the Unitary Plan being either waste or being waste. If you want that go read one of Bernard Orsman’s pieces from the NZ Herald…

 

What I am referring to in this post is a question that has come up in the Unitary Plan discussions of recent: waste. That is waste-water (sewerage) and refuse (what goes to the tip) in Auckland and how we are meant to cope with it through to 2041 as a million extra people live in Auckland. While the Unitary Plan as such does not deal specifically with waste (that is dealt by the Waste Minimisation Policy adopted by Council recently), as the Unitary Plan dictates land and zoning rules it might be prudent to have the land available for waste facilities here in Auckland.

 

The city is going need the room to treat the increase sewerage and process the refuse as we march towards 2.5 million people. So where do we place these facilities?

Waste-water wise we already have two main facilities; the Mangere Sewerage Plant with its four hi-tech Bio Reactors (eliminating the needs for the oxidation ponds that use to pong), and the Albany Sewerage Plant which recently received an upgrade but not as hi-tech as Mangere (Albany still has Oxidation ponds which the Northern Motorway runs over). There are countless smaller sewerage treatment plants scattered around the Auckland region that service small places like Helensville but not connected to the metropolitan sewerage system.

Refuse wise I believe we have a main landfill somewhere on the North Shore operated by TransPacific Waste Management on behalf of Auckland Council with countless transfer centres around the city. As for recycling plants I would have to look but, I think Auckland Council has one dedicated recycling plant while paper is often dealt with by private firms (one I know of in Penrose next to the Onehunga Line).

 

Upgrade or even expansion wise for our waste facilities seems a rather straight forward exercise.

Waste-water wise Watercare (the Auckland Council CCO) has marked down that a new waste-water treatment plant is likely to be needed in the Drury industrial area to supplement the Mangere Plant when the intensification and Greenfield development takes off down this end of the city. If you replicate the Bio-Reactor set up at Mangere to the Drury site then there should be no issues with treatment in the south of the city. You can upgrade the Mangere Plant by adding more Bio-Reactors to it which would seems a good idea as the plant already exists. The catch is can the existing pipes take the extra load if we upgrade the plant. The same can go for the North Shore treatment plant in expanding its capacity by adding the Bio-Reactors to the existing facility (just need to watch those pipes again).

So with waste-water providing Watercare and Auckland Council does not take their eye off the ball nor piddle the money else where, the waste-water issue should be a straight forward one with a new plant and the existing two upgraded.

 

As for our refuse here in Auckland, this is where it gets interesting.  I have written a post on our trashy problem before and can be seen here: “TIME TO TAKE OUT THE TRASH – Waste to Energy for Auckland?”

The post is self-explanatory and challenges Auckland to be mature in asking itself how we deal with our trash. I highly recommend taking a read.

 

Waste-water and refuse. Two rather stinking problems or concerns for Auckland as the city grows but, two of the easier problems to “deal with” if the city acts in a mature and proactive manner. Just keep your eye on the ball folks and no piddling the money away…

 

BEN ROSS : AUCKLAND

BR:AKL: Bring Well Managed Progress

The Unitary Plan: Bringing Change

Auckland: 2013 – OUR CITY, OUR CALL

 

 

Those Secret Papers

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Where’s Wally?

 

Seems our Ageist Old Fart from the NZ Herald – Bernard Orsman has had one of those John Key/David Shearer “brain fade” moments when banging on about the Unitary Plan. Orsman decided to go post this piece in the Granny Herald which caught the attention of a few people:

Secret plan papers kept from public

By Bernard Orsman @BernardOrsman

8:06 AM Monday Apr 29, 2013 

The Auckland Council is sitting on secret documents used to draw up a new planning rulebook for the city and instructed its top lawyer to keep them hidden from the public.

Mayor Len Brown and chief executive Doug McKay have rejected requests from the Herald to release background papers used by a political working party to develop the most important planning document in the history of Auckland.

The new rulebook – or Unitary Plan – sets out a new way of life for Auckland’s 1.5 million residents that includes high-rise apartments and infill housing to cope with squeezing another 1 million people into the city.

But when the Herald sought the background papers on the heritage rules from Mr McKay under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act, the council’s general counsel Wendy Brandon refused to release the material. Requests for background papers on other issues would also be refused, she said.

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The Herald is seeking a review of the council decision from the Ombudsman.

 

Not trusting Orsman I decided to go digging up for myself for these apparent secret papers. Often private citizens – those being private citizens who have not gone out of their way annoying Council have better luck getting a hold of council documents than the commercial media. I got an answer back pretty much the same day in regards to those “secret” paper and it is the following:

 

The papers are both beside me and on my desktop. I have had them since 2011 (with the collection still ongoing) and I already refer to them quite often here at this blog for research. Heck the paper version even follows me to Unitary Plan Community Meetings as well. So what were those papers? Well they were:

  • The (operative) Auckland Plan
  • The 7000 page draft Unitary Plan including maps – both electronic and hard copy
  • Every single Auckland Plan Committee agenda with all the attachments (often with Powerpoint presentations attached) added since The Auckland Plan became operative in 2011 if not earlier

 

Anything not available would have been from commercial sensitivity grounds such as someone’s property to be directly affected by a project (happens). However, those documents can also be sort after – usually with some black highlighter through it.

 

So the question was asked (basically Where’s Wally) about the background documents used to draw up the Draft Unitary Plan. Well seems the answer was if I trawl through over 10,000 pages of both hard and digital material – the background information is all there. One just needs to go sifting through it to go find it – or be more proactive and go ask someone who knows 😛

 

 

Might be time to leave the Herald alone folks. I see Stuff.co.nz do a pretty decent coverage on the Unitary Plan from all angles including the youth angle.

 

At the same time I could always go out to the community and talk Unitary Plan independent from the Council. Might go work on that business flyer this morning…

 

BEN ROSS : AUCKLAND

BR:AKL: Bring Well Managed Progress

The Unitary Plan: Bringing Change

Auckland: 2013 – OUR CITY, OUR CALL

 

North Shore Rail – Actively Being Considered

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Wheels Turning (Slowly) for North Shore Rail

 

Came across this last night while reading up happenings across the city: “Shore rail considered”

From the article:

 

Rail to the North Shore is being investigated by Auckland Transport.

The public transport mode has been “identified by the Auckland Plan as an important extension to the rail network”, the council-controlled organisation’s annual report says. “A draft report on land use preconditions has been updated and finalised by Auckland Council following feedback received from stakeholders.” Auckland Transport goes on to say the NZ Transport Agency has reported on steps to restart work on an additional Waitemata Harbour Crossing. “Auckland Transport will need to consider the implications of this on planning for rapid transit on the North Shore.” The agency says it and “other stakeholders are considering the findings and possible next steps, including future proofing the rail connection”.

In November, Massey University vice-chancellor Steve Maharey said a section of its Albany campus was sold to Auckland Council. Mr Maharey claimed he was told it would become a public transport hub with light rail as an option

-ends-

 

I have commented on this before in my “NORTH SHORE RAIL FOR $2.5B?” post written in September:

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Of all the options that were available, the one that caught my attention the most due to cost effectiveness while delivering the highest benefit was:

 

Meaning the Bus-way is extended, upgraded and fully optimised (so at maximum efficiency and/or capacity) before the Albany to CBD section of the Bus-way is flipped (converted) over to Heavy Rail which would connect to the Aotea Station of the City Rail Link. A reminder that the bus-way as it currently stands was designed to be flipped to rail in due time – so it should not be that difficult.

The conversion of the bus-way to heavy rail in Auckland Council’s and Auckland Transport‘s opinion would be around 2041. In my submission to the Auckland Plan, that conversion would be completed by 2040  (so third and final period of the current Auckland Plan):

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Lets see where North Shore Rail goes. But by the looks of things it could be in position ahead on anticipated time. Remembering heavy rail can move upwards of 900% more people than the bus-way ever could. So a great decongestant for the North Shore 🙂

 

 

 

Update with Karaka Collective Information

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An Information Error

 

PLEASE NOTE

I have received an email from a person in regards to the Karaka Collective and information the Collective’s representative has sent me which I subsequently posted on BR:AKL.

The information I had received which was subsequently embedded in my “Karaka Collective Shares” post was incorrect in the fact a resident who is not part of the Collective –  was highlighted as being part of the collective. Subsequently the incorrect information has been spread further in the public domain (the original submissions were already in the public realm prior to BR:AKL posting them) of which is a concern.

I have been informed that the barrister for the Karaka Collective has been alerted to this incorrect information and should be making the proper adjustments to reflect the correct information.

As a result of this I have pulled down the Karaka Collective Shares post, as well pulling down the information links from Scribd. I will repost the information once I have the CORRECT information from the Collective at hand. Thus for now any other posts linking back to the Karaka Collective Shares post will not work for the duration of the suspension.

 

BR:AKL does send apologies to the person affected by the incorrect information embedded in the blog for any inconveniences caused.