• Aidan Bennett.

From the Chair

By Aidan Bennett, Chairperson, Devonport-Takapuna Local Board

Welcome to my first ‘From the Chair’ column in Channel Magazine. After being elected to the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board in October last year I was unsure if I would use this magazine to communicate with people from the area, but I have decided it is a good idea. So here goes…

Since being elected I have learnt quite a bit about the world of local politics. I call myself a temporary politician, with the aim to stay for a shortish time – not a long time – in an effort to make a difference for our community. After around four months in the chair, I reckon I can.

I am not your conventional politician. I am going to call a spade a spade, irrespective of whether it makes me unpopular or popular. My focus is on doing good for my community – not on getting elected next time round. I believe that will take care of itself if I gain the respect of the community for what I achieve.

Taking the chair
I was thrilled to be the highest poller at election time, of all the candidates standing for the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board in 2019. This was unexpected. But the strong endorsement I received from voters meant I could play a stronger leadership role than first anticipated. So I put myself forward to be the chair, and that was endorsed for the first half of the three year term. I have certainly jumped in the deep end!
Joining me on the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board for the three year term (in votes gained order) are Jan O’Connor (re-elected), George Wood (re-elected), Toni van Tonder (new member and my running mate), Ruth Jackson (new member) and Trish Deans (new member).
After over four months I can report that we are working well together. There are some differences, but we are learning to work through those for the good of the community.

First impressions
Prior to being elected I knew very little about the workings of the Local Board and the wider Auckland Council. What I can report is that I have discovered a wonderful Local Board Services team, based at Takapuna, that supports the six elected members and keeps things running pretty smoothly. They are dedicated, passionate, hardworking and extremely knowledgeable about our Devonport-Takapuna patch and the democratic process.
This is the case, pretty much, with all the Auckland Council staff I have worked with over the past few months. You often hear negative things about Auckland Council, but I haven’t been able to fault the people, or their professionalism and passion.

Being the chair
At first, the thought of being the chair (as a newbie) was daunting. There are many things to learn about the democratic process involved with such things as formal meetings etc. But I have been guided well through that by the staff and by leaning on the experience of people such as George (Wood), I am getting the hang of it.
An extension of being the chair is also taking a seat at the Chairs' Forum. This is the Auckland-wide monthly meeting of all the chairs of the 21 local boards. Again, this has been a bit intimidating as most of these people are seasoned local body politicians – some have been MPs – who understand the way things work. I have found this very interesting and to date have really only sat back and listened.
My comfort zone will be further tested during March, when it is my turn to chair the Chairs' Forum at the Town Hall!

Building relationships
A focus for me as the new Devonport-Takapuna Local Board chair is establishing good relationships with all key people and entities that we need to work with to get good outcomes for our community. I see this as being absolutely crucial: gaining their respect so we can work together. This encompasses community groups and also  all parts of the council organisation – including Auckland Transport (AT) and Panuku. I believe I have made some good progress on this and will continue working very hard on it.

Very Good Plans
Being a complete newbie means I can look at things from a totally fresh perspective. During the very thorough induction process that the new Devonport-Takapuna Local Board members have been through we have been exposed to the planning and structure of Auckland Council.
While things are not perfect, what I have been pleasantly surprised by is the very good and structured planning that takes place, with a strong focus on the future. This is a massive organisation that has its challenges, but the planning is good.
There is The Auckland Plan which is the 30-year vision for the city. Linked to this are the Local Board Plans formulated every three years by the respective local boards. There is Auckland Council’s 10-year budget and annual (yearly) budget. The local boards also have an annual Local Board Agreement that is adopted every year.
Hand-in-hand with all these is very tight financial planning and reporting.

Local Board Three-Year Plan
While I am talking about local board plans… One of the first things that the new local board is doing is preparing a new three-year plan that will be implemented for the next three years, 2020 through until 2023.
We are currently consulting on what residents of the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board area would like to see in that plan. We are keen on your feedback. You can submit online, or contact our Devonport-Takapuna Local Board team (or me) to give us your ideas. Visit: https://akhaveyoursay.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/devonporttakapunaplan

Closing the Workshops
A controversial move (for some) from the start of my time in the chair was my move to change the workshops from open workshops (where the public can attend) to closed workshops.
My reasoning for this was that it is essential that the six elected members of the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board are well informed. We are elected to make good decisions on your behalf. These workshops are the key times when the members can receive and seek out good information from council and CCO staff and other community organisations and groups. My belief, which remains, is this needs to be an environment that allows information to be made available, without noise or disruption.
No decisions are made at the workshops. All decisions are made at the monthly Business Meetings (held on the third Tuesday of every month) that are fully open to the public.
My full reasoning on this change can be read on my website… www.aidanbennettdtlb.co.nz

Fresh thinking needed
My fellow local board member Toni van Tonder and I stood on a ticket of fresh thinking, and that is what we are following through with. This needs to be applied to the area of funding and getting things done in our community. The bottom line is that money is tight. There’s very little appetite for extra increases in rates, so we need to find other ways to fund making things happen.
I believe there needs to be some fresh thinking around property that Auckland Council owns that is surplus to requirements, is not being fully utilised, or is stagnating. There are many examples in our Devonport-Takapuna Local Board area. I am advocating for us to use a process that has been called optimisation.
This doesn’t always mean selling – a thought that sends alarm bells to many. But it does mean considering options of realising value for the community from the many under-performing legacy assets that we have. They must not sit and do nothing and cost us money.
If you are keen to learn more you can read my thinking about this issue on my website… www.aidanbennettdtlb.co.nz

Hurstmere Road Upgrade
The long-awaited upgrade of Takapuna’s shopping strip of Hurstmere Road (between Lake Road and Anzac Street) will be getting under way over the next month or so. I have seen the plans for the road and they are very good.
The road becomes one way, from Lake Road end to the Anzac roundabout; has a speed limit of 30kmph, cycles lanes and becomes a bit more of a shared space and there will be many different plantings – but more trees and shrubs than there are now! A key element is also improving the quality of water – with rain gardens etc. – that runs off the road towards the beach.
As most will be aware, I am a huge advocate for progress in Takapuna – for getting this upgrade done and completing the Anzac carpark/town square development as quickly as possible.
There will be some disruption, but the Auckland Council team is working with the TBBA to ensure this in minimised. We need to make sure we are supporting our local businesses during this period – so shop local guys!

ANZAC Service Parade 2020
I am looking forward to hosting the ANZAC Service in Takapuna this year. Due to anticipated disruption in central Takapuna (related to the Hurstmere Road updgrade above) it has been moved to the Takapuna Primary School. This will be a good interim venue.

Lake Road
This could be viewed as a hot potato for politicians. There are many ideas on how we can “fix Lake Road”. The reality is we don’t have the money to totally fix Lake Road. That would mean buying lots of property, huge disruption to people’s lives, and not everyone would agree on that approach anyway.
I have seen plans being developed (by Auckland Transport) to improve Lake Road that are going out to consultation with the public in the near future. I believe these are pretty good plans. When implemented, they won’t solve all the problems 100%. There is very good thinking and planning behind them, and I believe they will improve things – such as traffic flow, safety, public transport, cycling etc. etc.
Auckland Transport is collaborating pretty closely with the community, particularly around the improvements that will be made at Belmont as part of the Lake Road project.

Milford WEEPS
I want to congratulate all the people in the Milford area who have got behind the Milford WEEPS initiative. WEEPS stands for Wairau Estuary Environment Preservation Society. Their efforts have highlighted what is a real problem and has made Auckland Council and the Local Board stand up and take notice. There were more than 300 people at Milford WEEPS' action-packed February meeting at Milford Cruising Club.
The overall problem relates to an underinvestment in infrastructure over many decades. Auckland Council has actually been doing a great deal of work on this issue. Clearly the public desire is for more action and the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board is united in responding to that.
As a result of Milford WEEPS pressure, Auckland Council and the two local boards in the area – Devonport-Takapuna and Kaipatiki – will be collaborating and working hard to progress things, and importantly, to keep the public well informed about what is happening to clean up Wairau Estuary, other waterways and our beaches.

Hopefully you enjoy reading this communication. Feel free to contact me at any time about any of these matters – aidan.bennett@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz – or visit my website to find out more information… www.aidanbennettdtlb.co.nz

Note: The Devonport-Takapuna Local Board area extends from Sunnynook and Castor Bay in the north to the Devonport peninsula suburbs in the south, on the eastern side of the Northern Motorway. The western boundary is the motorway.