October is always a month of reflection for the elected members in local government. It’s in October that we hold our inaugural meetings after an election, officially starting the political term for newly elected and returning representatives. 

This October marks the second year of the three-year term and in last month’s business meeting we adopted our FY 23/24 annual report. When you drill into the details, there’s plenty that this local board can hang its hat on and I’m proud of the way the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board has worked collaboratively to achieve some quality outcomes, as well as initiating some important projects alongside the community.  
In the last two years we’ve completed and opened the fantastic Patuone Walkway off Barry’s Point Road, connecting people to nature and to Takapuna's metro centre on a gorgeous green route. We’ve installed new fitness equipment at Bayswater Park, as well as upgraded sports field lighting to LED. A new toilet was installed at Tonkin Park in Sunnynook and at the end of this year, construction will start on the new skate facility in Sunnynook too. We’re currently consulting on a new skate facility at Woodall Park in Narrow Neck, building on the existing sporting codes already present in this location. We opened Allenby Reserve playground, and it’s a goodie, and we’ve approved two new playground renewals at Achilles Reserve in Narrow Neck and Belle Verde in Forrest Hill. New sports changing facilities have also been approved at Becroft Park.
We’re soon to make a political decision on the fate of 139 Beach Road, the old barracks building in a state of dilapidation, as well as the Kennedy Park Beach stairs that were badly damaged during the 2023 weather events. Earlier this year we had the pleasure of opening the extension to Gould Reserve playground; an all-inclusive playground adjacent to our new beach changing rooms alongside fully inclusive bathroom facilities. We have generous benefactors Chris and Jackie Reeve to thank for enabling this great addition.
We’ve addressed the challenges of Te Uru Tapu, our ancient coastal pohutukawa forest at the northern end of Takapuna Beach and are excited to finally see action in cleaning up and protecting this site of cultural significance. It’s thanks to these strengthened relationships with iwi that we’re now able to start working towards the restoration and protection of Te Rahopara Ō Peretu pā site in Kennedy Park, something that the folk in Castor Bay have been nudging us on for many years.
Recently we responded to concerns around safety and crime, and supported the Takapuna Beach Business Association with new CCTV cameras installed in Waiwharariki, ANZAC Square, as well as provided operating grants to North Harbour Community Patrol, Neighbourhood Support and Blue Light North Shore.  
In our community development space, additional support was provided to our two remarkable community houses in Devonport and Sunnynook and we shifted our development model from a top-down event delivery approach to a bottom-up, grassroots approach, where two community activators are out there connecting organisations to resources, funding and building capability. We’re already seeing the benefits of this work with many groups we’ve never encountered before applying for contestable grants and delivering what they want to see in their neighbourhoods. We’ve also strongly backed our two environmental restoration groups who do amazing work in our reserves, restoring the environment and building community connection.
There have been hundreds of thousands of dollars granted to community groups in the last two years; supporting events such as Winter Lights, Takapuna Rocks, Milford Christmas Carnival, Devonport’s Mid Winter Swim and many, many more. We’ve helped organisations with heat pumps and dishwashers, sports equipment and stage productions.
The stuff that you don’t see is the advocacy we do. We’ve seen a lot of change in Council over the last two years and some of the proposals presented have not been in our favour. One was ‘fairer funding’, ultimately a redistribution of funding across the city to create greater equity. Our local board would have lost nearly $4 million of capital budget over three years, preventing us from renewing and investing in our local assets. With some serious advocacy to all governing body members we managed to dodge that bullet, and equity was achieved through the addition of new funding only. We were also presented with a proposed re-organisation that would have seen our board merge with another, distancing residents even further from decision-making and true local representation. We’re grateful that the governing body listened to us and did not proceed. And in a final win for advocacy, we're proud to report that Auckland Transport has listened to our requests to investigate quick wins and intersection optimisation opportunities on Lake Road. With funding for the upgrade project sitting in outer years of the 10-year transport plan, we asked that we focus on what can be achieved in the immediate; and we’re happy to share that this is exactly what Auckland Transport is going to do.
With one more year to go, there are many more projects and proposals we’re looking to advance, and we’re grateful to every resident who has helped shape the direction we’re headed.

Toni van Tonder, Chair, Devonport-Takapuna Local Board
toni.vantonder@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz