Liz September 22nd, 2008
Eden Albert Community Board has written to ARC to ask them to manage Meola Creek in accordance with their Regional Policy Statement (RPS)…
The notice of motion is available as a PDF here.
An extract from EACB minutes is attached. Full minutes from 27 Aug are at: http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/council/members/boardmeetings/edenalbert/m20080827.asp
Liz September 15th, 2008
In the case of Meola - it is not a creek when Housing NZ applied to Auckland Regional Council (ARC) for consent to cut off the meander at the top of the creek behind 96 Haverstock Rd. ARC chose to grant an UNNOTIFIED consent for Housing NZ to straighten the creek and build a concrete wall and lane over the creek bed as a permitted activity in a watercourse. So - by the time the Auckland City Council (ACC) public hearings for HNZ development of 41 units were held 2 months later - HNZ and ARC had already decided the creek’s fate. City Councillor Glenda Fryer has contacted ARC Chairman Mike Lee on behalf of the local community to ask how this happened.
We were pleased that the Kura Kaupapa in Haverstock Rd and the Environmental Network at Hort Research (who have planted around the wetland above the creek) joined STEPS and other submitters in raising concerns at the ACC Hearings in September. See attached JPG photos of the creek bed and the plantings above it done by the Environmental Network.
Our thanks to Community Board Chair Chris Dempsey - who appeared as a witness for STEPS and Meola Creek at the ACC Hearings. We await the decision from the hearings.
Meola Creek bed
4 months after Streamside planting June 2008
meolacreek May 13th, 2008
Auckland City Council
Media release
9 May 2008
A programme of works is to be developed to help mitigate the impacts of sewer overflows into Meola Creek. The City Development Committee heard that a long-term solution under consideration by Watercare, the installation of a new interceptor main, is not likely to be operational for about five to 10 years. In the meantime, the committee has asked the council, Metrowater and Watercare to move ahead with initiatives to minimise the problem.
Works would be aimed at:
A report to the committee noted that 80 per cent of the overflows came from Watercare sewers, with most from sewers at Lyon Avenue and Haverstock Road.
About 40 per cent of the Meola catchment is served by combined sewers. Currently, Metrowater is conducting sewer separation works in the Motions catchment and this will take nearly all Metrowater’s sewer separation budget for the next three years. Committee chairperson Councillor Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga said that all the agencies were acutely aware of the unpleasant side effects of sewage overflows. “The trunk system was installed about 100 years ago and our population has simply outgrown its capacity,” he said. “The issue is not just to accommodate the existing need but to future proof the system for new growth and that is a hugely expensive and time consuming process.”
For further information, please contact:
Councillor Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga, chairperson, City Development Committee
ph 927 209 7562
Email: cr.lotu-iiga@aucklandcity.govt.nz
