MILFORD – ‘THE’ place to be (seen)!

Gee! It’s been a busy old time here in Milford and it’s only going to get busier. We’ve got new apartments under construction, new businesses continually arriving, plus lots of great events like February’s extraordinary ‘Vive La France’ and ‘Markets Meet Milford Centre’ at the end of March. Add great new gardens by Milford Rotary and our gardener Mike, and you can see it’s all happening here in Milford!

Omana North Apartments are now up to level six of nine and the foundation work is well and truly underway at the Milford 110 apartments
It’s getting so busy in Milford I’m having to jump on my e-bike just to get around the town centre efficiently.

New businesses in Milford
A case in point is getting pictures of the new businesses that have opened in Milford recently. They have opened all over Milford.
Supernova Café has opened in Uptown Milford, in the premises formerly occupied by Bread & Butter Café. In central Milford, we have the new gift shop Home by the Sea, and a new hairdresser/beauty business All Blonde Hair & Beauty. And in downtown, we have the former Takapuna business, Fortune Fountain Restaurant, opened next to our now famous Ice Cream Parlour – Scrunchy Millars.

Coming soon to Milford….
Look out for a new phone accessory business, 3C Easy opening soon next to the BNZ in the Milford Centre.

Council’s 10 Year Plan
The Milford Business Association presented two of the projects from the Milford Centre Plan, 2015 to 2045, to the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board for inclusion in the Auckland Council 10 Year Plan:

  • The Wairau Estuary Boardwalk.
  • Walkways/Cycleways around MILFORD.

As you have been well indoctrinated by me in the past, this Wairau Estuary Boardwalk will be a new community asset, that will link the Milford Beach Reserve to the Town Centre. Currently the project is a ‘Community-Lead’ Project – which means we have to find 80% of the $2million cost. To date, over 241 planks have been allocated to locals interested in the project and there is an off-road parking fund of around $150,000 that I am hoping will be added to it, as I am told, $150,000 won’t even pay for one car park!
So that’s about $174,000 of the $1.6million we need to get the council to come up with the other $400,000. Apart from locals who want to buy a plank or planks at $100 each, we need community-minded corporate sponsors to get behind this outstanding local project to bring it to the community – sooner rather than later. If you are a business owner who can help or know someone, please let me know.
A far as the walking and cycling tracks is concerned, this is just utilising existing roads and walkways and I am waiting for Auckland Transport to complete their $60,000 study into signage for the project! I hope to deliver this in the current year.

New Stormwater Pipe at Shakespeare Road/Kitchener Road
As mentioned last year when Covid-19 hit, this project got moth-balled by council. I can now tell you I met with Healthy Waters engineers recently and they have given me a start date of post Easter, with completion of the project before Christmas. I will be posting details in our fortnightly customer newsletters as the works program becomes clearer. If you do not get it currently (7500 locals do!) you can join it by going to our milfordshops website.
Many residents are unaware that this project came about from the Milford Centre Plan that was developed in 2014 from a consultation of all local community groups who had input into the plan. This was well before WEEPS came on the scene. This project will deliver a much better filtering of stormwater into the Wairau Estuary, once complete.
In speaking with Healthy Waters, I brought up the very valid point raised by WEEPS – the 40% of Wairau Businesses that are non-compliant with what they dump into their stormwater drains which filter through the Wairau Stream and eventually to Milford Beach. As I have raised before with council, I told the Healthy Waters engineers, that the simple solution surely is to serve notice on the non-complying businesses to fix their non-compliant drains within three months, or else they will get their contractors to do so and add the cost to the businesses rates bill. Surely common sense can prevail.
Look out for more updates on this and other Milford matters through our social media platforms and monthly in Channel Magazine.

Murray Hill, Manager – Milford Business Association,
manager@milfordshops.co.nz  | 021 950 463,
www.milfordshops.co.nz
 facebook milfordshops  Instagram milfordnz youtube MilfordshopsTV


By: , Murray Hill, Manager
home@black-rock.co.nz

Issue 118 April 2021