Tag: Auckland

Council Responds to the Salter’s Cartage explosion

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Investigation under-way

I prodded the Council yesterday after seeing the Herald report on complaints of gaseous smells in the area as well as Manukau that drew complaints for the last six months prior to Wednesday’s explosion (see: Smells reported before deadly explosion).

This from the Council:

Salter’s Cartage explosion

Following the tragic incident at Salter’s Cartage yesterday afternoon, Auckland Council is providing assistance to WorkSafe NZ and other agencies to ascertain the cause of the explosion.

Staff are visiting the area today to check whether there are any contaminants discharging into the estuary that need to be contained as a result of the explosion.

On 6 August 2015, Auckland Council staff visited Salter’s Cartage for a routine compliance inspection and subsequently an abatement notice was issued for concerns with certain ducting and internal processes.

Salter’s Cartage was asked to provide an action plan to remedy issues by the end of September.

“Until WorkSafe NZ has completed its investigation we are unable to comment on the matter further,” says Auckland Council’s General Manager Resource Consents, Ian Smallburn.

Following yesterday’s incident the council has received queries regarding previous odour complaints recorded in the area.

Auckland Council has received approximately 60 complaints regarding gas odours in the general Wiri and Manukau areas since August 2014.

“Staff investigate each complaint thoroughly, and at this stage we have no conclusive evidence to associate these with any particular source,” says Mr Smallburn.

“Typically the odours were experienced over a short duration and have been reported in isolated pockets over a wide area, which makes investigating a source of origin very difficult,” he says.

Auckland Council has no evidence to suggest that either of the two issues outlined above are in any way associated with yesterday’s tragedy.

Auckland Council set up an oil recovery scheme with Salter’s Cartage, which was handed over to another organisation in 2012.

—ends—

Believe me when that smell lingered in Manukau (even causing fire alarms to be triggered and/or buildings to be evacuated as people thought natural gas was leaking) was potent, potent enough I could even smell it on the Southern Motorway more than once passing by Manukau.

So then what was the cause of that smell that did make people sick?

As for the abatement notice that does raise an eye brow as well.

Mangere-Otahuhu Local Board Meeting – September 2015

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NRL 9’s Opening Ceremony in South Auckland

 

Today (and what is it with Agenda’s coming out at very short notice) Mangere-Otahuhu Local Board will conduct its montly meeting where I see a Notice of Motion has come up. You can read the web version of the agenda HERE.

 

That Notice of Motion:

Notices of Motion

11.1     Notice of Motion: Request for the NRL 9’s opening to be hosted in South Auckland
In accordance with Standing Order 3.11.1, the following Notice of Motion has been received from Nick Bakulich for inclusion on the agenda for the Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board meeting being held on day, Wednesday, 16 September 2015.

Purpose

1.       The purpose of this Notice of Motion is to seek the Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board’s support for the 2016 National Rugby League (NRL) Nines opening to be held at a venue in South Auckland and to request that the Southern Local Board Chairs consider recommending this to ATEED. 
Recommendation/s

That the Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board:

a)      Receives the notice of motion

b)      Supports the opening of the 2016 National Rugby League (NRL) Nines at a venue in South Auckland.

c)      Asks the Local Board Chair, Lemauga Lydia Sosene, to raise this matter with the Southern Local Board Chairs Forum to seek their joint support for a request to ATEED to arrange the hosting of the opening of the 2016 NRL Nines at a venue in one of the southern local board areas.

…….

 

Okay given the size of Eden Park (60,000) and the amount of people the 9’s pull I am wondering if we have anything available of size in South Auckland to hold such an opening.

That said I am wary of this given the opening probably should be at Eden Park given this is where the 9’s will be held.

Will see what comes about from this.

 

Transport

Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board – 16 September 2015

Auckland Transport Update – September 2015

File No.: CP2015/19141

Purpose

  1. This report provides an update on local transport matters over the last month for the Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board (MOLB).

 

Executive Summary

  1. This report contains a general monthly update on transport matters both locally and from across Auckland and a list of issues currently being addressed by Auckland Transport for the MOLB.

 

Recommendation/s

That the Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board:

a)      Receives the Auckland Transport Update – September 2015

b)      Supports the removal of all on-street car parking on both Mascot and Friesian Avenues required to deliver the ‘Future Streets’ project

c)      Supports any removal and replacement of street trees as part of the ‘Future Streets’ project.

d)      Supports ‘blocking’ Windrush Close in order to stop its use as a circuit by street racers and to create a gateway into the new walkway linking this street with Waddon Place.

 

Responding to Resolutions

  1. No ‘Resolutions’ require responses this month.

 

Discussion

Security at Mangere Town Centre

  1. Security around the Mangere Town Centre Bus Station has been an issue since May 2015.
  1. Initially, Auckland Transport worked closely with Auckland Council’s Parks Team to cut back shrubs and flax and install better lights on the road.  It has taken time to get the lights inside the bus shelter working but they have now been fixed.

 

Regional Land Transport Programme

  1. Development of the Regional Land Transport Programme is now complete and on 2 September 2015 Auckland Transport briefed the MOLB on the work scheduled to be delivered in the local board area.
  1. Attachment A is a copy of the presentation.

 

Berm Planting Policy

  1. Auckland Transport has written a draft document setting out how planting in the road berm might be managed. This draft has been approved to go out for consultation with Local Boards and was circulated to members of the MOLB on 27 August 2015.
  1. Auckland Transport is seeking feedback from Local Boards. The closing date for feedback is 30 September 2015 and all Local Boards are encouraged to make a submission.

 

Rail Update – City Rail Link Appeals Process Completed

  1. The City Rail Link (CRL) has reached a major milestone with all appeals to its land designation now resolved by agreement or dismissed. The confirmed designation identifies land in the district plan for rail purposes and protects the route for the future.
  1. There were six appeals and five of them were settled and the appeal that went to the Environment Court has been dismissed. The designation is now confirmed subject to finalisation of conditions by the Environment Court.

Fig 1 – Artist’s Impression of the Proposed New Aotea Station – Deep under the Aotea Centre

 

  1. Early works will start in and around Britomart in November 2015. While there are still some other planning processes to work through in relation to consents, Auckland Transport anticipates being able to start on the ‘cut and cover’ tunnel under  Albert Street in May 2016.
  1. Rail patronage in Auckland grew 21.7% in the year to the end of June, two and a half million more passengers than the previous year.
  1. When Britomart Transport Centre opened in 2003, annual rail patronage was less than three million. Future development in Auckland needs a reliable, efficient public transport system and the CRL will remove the current ‘bottleneck’ at Britomart allowing trains to circulate around the isthmus through Britomart rather than having to back out of the station before starting their journey.
  1. Auckland Transport’s replacement of the diesel fleet is complete and there are now six clean, modern, reliable electric trains per hour on the Eastern and Southern Lines and four trains per hour on the Western Line at peak hours. Completion of the CRL will allow even more rail services to be delivered.

 

Future Streets

  1. The ‘Future Streets’ project continues to progress. Currently the project’s designs are moving into detailed construction plans and consent processes are being undertaken both within Council and with Auckland Transport’s Traffic Control Committee.
  1. This process has identified a number of areas of ‘risk’ that require a clear statement of support from the MOLB to makes sure that they do not slow down these processes.  The project team has requested resolutions supporting the following points:
  • Removal of parking on Mascot and Friesian Avenues – The ‘Future Streets’ project includes removal of parking on Mascot and Friesian Avenues. Figure 1 is pictures of the proposed layout.  This layout has been discussed with the MOLB and with the community, with generally positive feedback. Current on-street parking use has also been studied and is limited because most houses have good off-street parking.

Even after considerable work with the community and MOLB, the proposal is very ‘progressive’, in that, it gives priority to pedestrians and cyclists over cars. The project team has therefore requested a strong signal of the MOLB’s support, preferably by resolution. A draft resolution has been included above for consideration by the MOLB.

The resolution will be used to demonstrate the MOLB’s support for the project when it is reviewed by Auckland Council and by Auckland Transport’s Traffic Control Committee.

Figure 1 – Pictures of the Proposed Road Layout on Mascot Ave.

  • Removal and replacement of trees – The ‘Future Streets’ project includes removal of approx. 40 trees on Mascot and Friesian Avenues and around the Waddon/Windrush Walkway.  The trees that will be removed will be replaced by approx. 80-90 new trees.

The reasons for removing the trees include ensuring the new road layouts have good visibility, replacing trees that are not growing well and making sure that criminals do not have places to hide near walkways.

The MOLB has requested that any trees removed that are usable are made available for re-use and the project team has agreed to this request in principle.

A draft resolution has been included above for consideration by the MOLB.

  • Blocking Windrush Close – The ‘Future Streets’ project heard from residents and local Police that Windrush Close is often used as a ‘race way’ by ‘boy racers’.  A proposal to block the road to prevent this behaviour and to create a ‘gateway’ for the walkway to Waddon Place has been included in the final plan.

 

This is another ‘progressive’ proposal that the project team would feel more comfortable about pursuing through the consenting and Traffic Control Committee process if the MOLB has clearly expressed strong support for it by resolution.
A draft resolution has been included above for consideration by the MOLB.

Figure 2 – Picture of the Type of Closure Proposed on Windrush Close

Figure 3 – Location of the Proposed Closure on Windrush Close

 

  1. The project is currently very active as the plan reaches the point that consents are being finalized and delivery planned in detail.  At this time there is the possibility that delivery dates may slip and at the time this report was submitted there was concern that delivery may start a little later than expected, unfortunately details will not able to be confirmed until the project team meets on 9 September 2015 and full verbal update will need to be provided at the meeting.

 

Local Board Transport Capital Fund (LBTCF):

  1. MOLB has a total pool of approx. $1,971,770 available in this electoral term to spend on transport projects.
  2. In its first electoral term the MOLB requested a number of projects and the progress of these projects is summarised in Attachment C.
  3. So far in this electoral term the Mangere-Otahuhu Local Board has identified six projects and these are discussed in detail in Attachment C.

Attachments

No. Title Page
AView RTPL presentation 35
BView Summary of Engagement 45
CView Capital Fund Projects 51
DView Issues Report 59
EView Summary of Consultation 61

Signatories

…………

Pictures and full agenda HERE.

 

Just waiting on the Otara-Papatoetoe Local Board’s agenda now given they have outstanding Resolutions concerning Manukau City Centre.