15th May, 2014
Prepared by Bryan Johnson, Chairperson, on behalf of the ERA Committee
Ellerslie Residents’ Association Inc P.O.Box 11-474, Ellerslie.
Tel 09 579 2616; Mob 027 276 6900
The Chairperson’s Annual Report for the Annual General meeting of the ERA to be held on Monday the 19th May, 2014 at 7.00pm at the Leicester Hall, 15 Findlay Street, Ellerslie
Introduction
The mission of the ERA is to work with the Residents of Ellerslie for the well-being of the community and to make Ellerslie Auckland’s most liveable suburb. This past year has been significant in the way the relationship between the ERA Committee has developed so there is an increasing trust between the community and their elected Committee. The ERA Committee has again been working hard towards our mission and I would like to thank them very much for their commitment to their role as community advocates.
Unitary Plan
This last year focussed mainly on the Unitary Plan process and conducting consultations with the Ellerslie Community to canvas the aspirations of the Residents and help them express their ideas to Auckland Council planners. The process produced a very good result for Ellerslie and we look forward to further consultation with Council planners through the hearings process. We would like to acknowledge that key planners in the Auckland Council such as Penny Pirrit gave us their careful attention and listened to the aspirations of the Residents.The only concern that your Committee has is that the end result of the Unitary Plan process may be too conservative for the future of Ellerslie seeing it is a plan in progress for the next 30 years.
The ERA Committee explored possible locations for high rise apartments in Ellerslie and after receiving submissions from residents in Amy and Arthur Streets and Gavin and Eaglehurst Streets withdrew support for any high rise except for Cawley Street and Wilkinson Road. The Auckland Council was looking for intensification of housing in Ellerslie around the rail station after investing $16.5million in partnership with the NZTA on the new Ellerslie rail station.
Auckland Plan
The Auckland plan process that preceded the unitary plan helped the ERA Committee develop a series of eleven principles that guided the ERA Committee throughout the Auckland plan and unitary plan process. In addition to this process the Community Survey the ERA undertook in April - June 2012 was the empirical basis for the outcomes we tried to achieve for the Residents. Furthermore the quarterly public meetings conducted by the ERA Committee allowed the Committee to engage with Residents in open dialogue about issues of significance for Residents. At this year’s AGM we will endeavour to use a questionnaire to add to our range of mechanisms to gather the feedback of the community.
Communication - Street stalls - Public meetings
Throughout the year we have endeavoured to conduct street stalls outside the ASB Bank on Saturday mornings at least once a month. In the two weeks prior to the quarterly meetings we conduct street stalls each Saturday morning. This enables us to hear directly from Residents what they are concerned about. These conversations are invaluable. It sometimes makes us sea that some elderly Residents are quite cynical about the democratic process which they perceive has produced little response to their concerns.
Auckland Council
The ERA appreciates the excellent communications that the Auckland Council sends out to Residents frequently. They are quality four colour booklets full of interesting information about events happening in Auckland. The Auckland Conversations events held at the Aotea Centre NZI Room every six weeks are an excellent stimulus for the ERA Committee members thinking about big picture planning for Auckland’s future. These events are also a good opportunity for the ERA Committee to meet with key people in Auckland Council.
Auckland Councillors
Ellerslie has two Auckland Council elected representatives Cameron Brewer and Denise Krum who connect with Ellerslie Residents and are ready and open to represent Residents representations about issues they are concerned about. We have appreciated the public meetings these counsellors have attended.
Orakei Local Board
The ERA want to express our sincere thanks to the Orakei Local Board (OLB) for their interest and support during the year. The OLB listened to the submissions of the ERA throughout the year and advocated for major projects in the Ellerslie area such at the Michaels Ave artificial turf upgrade. In addition to advocacy support the OLB approved $5,000 in funding in the last year for running costs and an electronic sign in Ellerslie. Sadly the electronic sign did not go ahead due to the $1,500 deposit required for a consent to operate a public sign in Ellerslie.
Funding
Peter Hynes has carefully managed our funding from the OLB and local residents so the ERA finished the year with a surplus. The significant increase in the number of projects Residents are asking the ERA to support will require more funding in the 2014-2015 year. There is a pressing need to have a part-time secretarial assistant who would be located in an office in Ellerslie to support the ERA Chair and Committee because a significant number of matters cannot be progressed in the evenings by volunteers because the actions required to advance projects need to be carried out in working hours. The ERA has a $10 membership subscription. We need to increase our paid up membership base to 750 paid up members to achieve our goals This would mean a six fold increase in paid members. At present only about one third of our supporters are paid up members.
Bi-monthly newsletters
Every two months the ERA sends out a newsletter to 330 electronic subscribers and 80-100 postal members. The postal memberships are a burden on our finances andPeter Hynes time. Peter kindly does the mailing. We would appreciate it very much if as many of out subscribers would provide Peter with their email addresses. Hamish Glenn is the author of our newsletters and he tries to communicate the topics of discussion at our monthly ERA Committee meetings into a brief but interesting bulletin.
Charitable Status
Although the ERA Chairman appealed the decision of the Charities Commission to be granted charitable status the decision of the Commission was to decline our application. The critical issue the Commission determined was that the purpose of the ERA was for the benefit of its members and not therefore a charitable purpose. The Commission cited a number of decisions of the High Court to support its determination. The ERA Committee decided that we would take no further action to try to change the Commission’s findings communicated in writing in August 2013.
Crime and Policing
The ERA Committee is concerned about rising crime rates in Ellerslie and the reduced Police presence in our area. In January - February 2014 serious crimes took place in Ellerslie and the number of incidents increased dramatically. The ERA greatly appreciates the volunteers who are part of the local Community Policing initiative organised by the Ellerslie Business Association Inc. Constable Donald of the Onehunga Police has organised volunteers to man an office in the War Memorial Centre for a few hours each day so there is a local reporting centre for crime or lost and found items. Any major events are referred to the Mt Wellington Police Headquarters in Harrison Road. The presence of our former local constable, Constable Johnston has been missed. Constable Johnston developed a good rapport with local youth and had a good understanding of local policing events. The ERA would like to see a local Police Constable restored to the office in the War Memorial Centre.
Prostitution services - Small Owner Operated Brothels (SOOB’s)
In the last year a group of young Asian girls set up a SOOB on Ladies Mile. The ERA Committee met with the clients and ascertained that they came mostly from the NorthShore and were very concerned if their spouses should find out that they were procuring services or prostitutes. The University of Canterbury research on 770 prostitutes in Christchurch Wellington and Auckland indicated that over 50% of prostitutes suffered violent attacks in the course of their work. The ERA Committee has assume that this means that clients attracted to SOOB’s could very likely be violent offenders and we assumed that residents would not want to attract these people to our suburb. Two violent sexual assault in Ellerslie last year indicated that these concerns were probably well founded. The ERA Committee will continue to oppose SOOB’s in Ellerslie unless the Residents indicate that they are happy to have these services in Ellerslie.
Liquor Licensing and Legal Highs
Last year the residents of Michaels Ave successfully and overwhelmingly opposed the establishment of a liquor outlet at the shops on Michaels Ave within 200 metres of three entrances to the Michaels Ave reserve and recreational turf facilities.
In our research on liquor outlets in Ellerslie the ERA visited every liquor outlet and collated all the crime statistics in the area. Ellerslie has 11 liquor outlets for 12,500 people living in the suburb twice the number of outlets that Manurewa has. The crime reports showed that liquor stores were the centres for crime in our suburb so it another outlet had been allowed in Michaels Ave we would have been justified in expecting an increase crime in the Michaels Ave reserve and neighbourhood. The ERA opposes any further liquor outlets in the suburb and would like to see the number reduced.
A further outcome of the research on liquor outlets that was good news for Ellerslie residents was that the owners of the outlets were not selling legal highs voluntarily because they saw them as a negative impact on the community. We congratulated them on their position and now subsequent events have proven that they were reading the national public mood well, since legal highs have now been banned. Hopefully this new legislation will reduce crime in Ellerslie.
Thriving Communities
Auckland Council has just released a document describing ways to develop a thriving community. Bryce Bartley our ERA Committee member has taken a keen interest in the development of the Thriving Communities concepts and we look forward to seeing these guidelines and principles assisting Residents make deeper engagements in community development. We can see that already many networks in our Ellerslie community are applying the principles of ‘Thriving Communities’.
Democracy at work
The ERA committee believes that democracy should work and be seen to work for residents through careful consultation and good processes. We believe in consultation that is meaningful and inclusive. We aim to increase the participation of the Ellerslie Community in the ERA and would like to see at least 3,000 residents on our mailing list and receiving information about events and developments in Ellerslie so every opportunity is given for residents’ voices and opinions to be heard. Community participation's vital for this objective to be achieved. We urge residents to attend our public meetings which are held every three months to find out what’s going on and to meet the elected representatives. Surveys are also an important tool to feedback information to our elected representatives.
Elections and Nominations for ERA Committee members
The participation of the Community is nominating and electing people on to the ERA Committee is essential for the ongoing health of our Community. We ask all residents to take this participation in the election process seriously. Spreading and sharing the load of voluntary work with the community is a key to its long term sustainability.
Ellerslie Community Library
The recent attempts of the ERA Committee to survey the Residents of Ellerslie have resulted in evidence of a very strong desire in the Community to have a Community Library. We are grateful that the Orakei Local Board have taken up this opportunity and have included in their draft plan a proposal to undertake an assessment to locate a new library to service the Ellerslie community (see page 9 of the OLB draft annual plan). Residents who want to complete the ERA Library survey will find the URL marked ‘survey monkey’ at the foot of the home page of the ERA website.
Photo Image Library
The ERA is developing a photo image library as a resource for the community. Residents are encouraged to email any photos they have taken of Ellerslie and its Residents to Email -
Sport and recreation
The ERA committee is fully supportive of recreational opportunities for Ellerslie residents both young and old. The sports facilities of Ellerslie are in many cases overloaded with participants and we see this is very good to the health and well-being of residents. We would like to thank the visionaries of the Orakei Local Board who along with the Auckland Council recreation planners produced a 5 year plan for the redevelopment of the Michaels Ave reserve, Ellerslie Domain and ListonPark. They are less than halfway towards the implementation of their vision but we have already felt the effect of the investment in much greater participation in sport in the community. Neighbouring areas have plans for sports development as well in The Ellerslie Race course, Ngahue Reserve and Barrack Road.
There is a great range of sporting opportunities available such as football in three codes, bowls, tennis, netball, basket-ball, squash, gymnastics, badminton etc and a number of playgrounds. All are vital to the well-being of Ellerslie’s residents and we will continue to advocate for greater investment and a wider range of facilities.
Air Quality Survey
The ERA is very concerned that the Auckland Council’s report on air pollution in Auckland indicates that 300 people a year are dying in Auckland each year from air pollution. This is more than the number killed on all of New Zealand’s roads in one year. The ERA supports the introduction of tighter controls on air pollution in Auckland and would like to see Central Government introduce strict European standards for particle emissions.
Traffic Submission
Eighteen months ago the ERA submitted on Traffic and Transport report to The Orakei Local Board Transport spokesperson Mr Ken Baguley. Since that time we have met with Ken many times discussing what can be done to advance our concerns and on Monday the 14th April 2014 the ERA Committee delivered to Ken Baguley and Desley Simpson a draft proposed cycleway and pedestrian plan for Ellerslie and its surrounds. In January 2014 at the opening of the Panmure Railway station the Chairperson of the ERA met with Dr David Warburton and discussed Ellerslie’s traffic and transport issues. Dr David Warburton stated that he had not had any reports on the traffic and transport issues in Ellerslie and its surrounds. The ERA is preparing a delegation to meet with Dr David Warburton to discuss all the issues related to traffic, transport cycleways and pedestrian crossings in Ellerslie in the month of May 2014.
Southdown Rail Loop
During 2014 Edgar Henson and Bryan Johnson met with Greg Horne, Auckland Transport’s Major Projects person over the Ellerslie-Panmure Highway corridor Management plans at the the AMETI project. In these discussions Greg Horne informed us that 20% of people coming from East Auckland to Panmure were looking to travel on to the CBD and 40% were seeking to travel to the Penrose and Greenlane business park areas. We were very glad to receive this information after waiting 12 months.This information supports the need for a rail loop at Southdown so trains at Panmure could travel non-stop to Penrose, Ellerslie, Greenlane and Newmarket without having to transfer to another train. The rail loop would facilitate non-stop if the Southdown rail loop as completed. This would facilitate a non-stop travel in both directions for trains serving the Central Isthmus area and build up patronage before the CBD rail loop was constructed, further justifying the investment.
Traffic Survey
The Era will lobby both the OLB and The MTLB for a request Can we set a date for a for a traffic survey for Ellerslie/Mt Wellington and Penrose.
Public Transport
Ellerslie continues to see improvements in public transport with the introduction or the Onehunga rail line services increasing the frequency of services through Ellerslie. The new electric train service now provides a quiet, clean and fast service to the CBD or Onehunga. The HOP card system is still not developed as well as it should be and the abuse of the voluntary pay system is still a result of the way the HOP card terminals were set up on the platforms. Ratepayers heavily subsidise public transport and they don’t want to see their rates investment abused. Hopefully Auckland Transport will improve HOP card payment systems in the next year. The HOP card should be used as an entrance and exit card and not just a payment card. There is still a need to extend the week night hours of train services so Ellerslie residents can come home on trains after shows in the CBD. Ideally a service up to and leaving at mid-night would be great as the new trains are so quiet.