Have your say

How many times have you fed into your Local Board Plan? My guess is not many. Auckland’s 21 Local Boards re-write their Plan every 3 years. These high-level documents set the direction for what happens in our area and if the things that are meaningful to you are not somehow captured in that document, then chances are, it won’t happen.

For instance, if you want to see your rates go towards better connected cycleways, then this must feature in the plan. If you want to see focus and funds on improved water quality, more tree planting, public art, safer school routes, more community events, or a focus on our cultural diversity with perhaps māori / English place names that feature in our parks and open spaces. Maybe you’d like to see more funds given to our volunteer groups who restore, monitor and enhance our natural environments, or perhaps you feel our community houses, libraries and facilities can do with improving. Do we need new sports facilities? Do you want to see more trees planted? Are we in need of an environment centre where we can grow natives and be educated in ways to reduce our own environmental impact? 

I’ve already hit up a bunch of people about what they’d like to see in our Local Board area and I’m hearing things like:

• Develop Bayswater into a transit oriented development and unlock the potential for more regular and reliable ferry crossings with a mix of intensified housing, commercial areas, and open space.
• Deliver an all-abilities play park in Milford so school-aged children have somewhere to go.
• Support more events in the Local Board area so that there’s more opportunities to get out and participate.
• Do something with the wasted space at the back of the clay store, connecting to Dacre Park and Ngataringa Reserve. 
• Respond to our Climate Crises and support people to take the next steps on their journey towards greater sustainability. 
• Get more zebra crossings over roads so kids can walk to school safely without having to be driven. 
• Sort out water quality issues, clean up the Wairau Estuary and make sure our beaches are 100% swimmable.
• Invest more in the arts and public arts. We’d like to see sculpture trails, educational opportunities and investment in this area.
• More pedestrian crossings to get kids safely to school on foot and bike.
• Create more effective town squares by pedestrianizing the road in the centre of Devonport and Milford.
• Upgrade the Sunnynook Town Centre – breathe life into this commercial space so it’s a vibrant local shopping destination.

Getting quality engagement is often a major challenge and the low voter turn out at last year's local elections are a good indicator of how engaged people are (or are not, as the case may be). The problem is, when the vast majority puts faith in the system, and only those with surplus time, or who are hot under the collar over a particular issue, are the only ones that feed into the consultation documents, then we're not really given a full snapshot of what the community sentiment is over an issue. 

So I encourage you all to feed into this year's Local Board plan - help set the direction for the new Local Board and have your say. It's easy, follow the links here:

1. Devonport-Takapuna Local Board Plan 
2. Auckland's Annual Budget (focus on some rates increases)
3.  Age Friendly Auckland