Welcome to April, it’s a third of the way through the year. Only eight months until Christmas, and don’t we find ourselves in a muddle at the moment with all sorts of things going on around our ears?

A couple of years ago, in fact, back in 2023, Gill & Gundry Concrete Construction was again asked by the Restoring Takarunga Hauraki environmental group to help with one of its projects at Achilles Reserve in Devonport. We, as a company, have previously helped them on several occasions over the past few years, predominantly in the area adjacent to the North Shore United playing field on Lake Road, Devonport. The area was full of rubbish, huge toi toi bushes, rats and all sorts of rubbish that had been tipped there over many years. We got a couple of big Hitachi diggers in there and cleaned it all out for them, saving them weeks of work as they intended to do it all by shovel and wheelbarrow. We did all this work for free as I firmly believe this environmental group are doing a fantastic job around the peninsula, growing natives in their nursery and transplanting to many projects. The whole project keeps a lot of retired people busy during the week, sharing their skills and friendships, a marvellous concept, I believe.
At the Achilles Crescent project, we were asked to excavate out and stockpile a large area of hard fill so they could replant it in natives. We duly did this in good faith. I believe this was either a previous tennis court or a bowling green. Auckland Council staff firmly believe that it was an old bowling site and subsequently put forward a budget of approximately $100,000 to clean up the area. This has now climbed to $220,000 since the job was authorised last September. These required works include the removal of the stockpile of base course that we were asked to leave.
The Auckland Council staff recently sought extra budget at a local board workshop, saying that over $70,000 was needed for the project's professional services, leaving not enough for the physical works to be done as planned this financial year.
Local Board Chairperson Trish Deans was recently quoted in the Devonport Flagstaff saying that the group planting in this area was well-meaning, but it was unclear who was responsible for the 'cowboy' effort with the digger. I would like to inform Trish Deans that the 'cowboy' effort was a Gill & Gundry excavator being driven by a very experienced operator, not a cowboy. I would like a public apology from Trish Deans for referring to our staff as cowboys.
We as a company are hugely proud of our ability to help local projects, and we have on numerous occasions over our 55 years of business. I refer back to the bike pump track we constructed without cost to anybody at Woodall Park. That project has taken at least five years, involving hundreds of machine hours, hundreds of man-hours, thousands of dollars of material, all for free for the community. I do love going down to the pump track on a Saturday afternoon and watching the kids having so much fun.
I also note that there has been a huge drive for constructing a new skate park in Devonport for a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars. This I believe, should be looked at again. Could someone tell us what is wrong with the skate park in the middle of the reclaimed area of Ngataringa Bay? Do we need to be spending a million dollars on a new skate park? I remember several years ago, they built a beach volleyball facility at Woodall Park for a cost of nearly $40,000. I commented at the time that to dig the volleyball area out, fill it with sand, and put up a couple of poles and a net would have been $7,500, if you were lucky. The rest were consultant fees, environmental fees, council fees, etc.
Recently, there was a car crash into a heritage bus stop at the top of Clifton Road, opposite the BP Clifton. Some driver, full of the joys of life, ploughed into it and took the left-hand side out of the building. I believe there have been quotes of over $100,000 to repair it. Again, this is absolute madness. The building would be lucky to be 10sqm which equates to $10,000 per square metre to repair and make good. I know one of my sons could repair that building on his own in a week using a bunch of timber from ITM. We are taken for a ride in this city at times, and God knows where it is going to end. I believe Auckland Council has a war on waste at the moment. I would like to know where this is happening.
I am so looking forward to the club rugby season in North Harbour, although I am sad to hear that a couple of the clubs are paying premier players within the club system. May I say to these clubs, and you know who you are, please desist from doing this, as it will be to the detriment of your club. You cannot afford to keep paying players on an ongoing basis. You will falter, and you will fall. You all know who you are. Be warned.