Roskill Community Voice

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Media statement: Disgraceful plan to bulldoze Liston Village one step closer to being overturned

Disgraceful plan to bulldoze Liston Village Seniors Social Housing one step closer to being overturned

“The disgraceful C&R-led plan to bulldoze Seniors social housing at Liston Village in Hillsborough is one step closer to being overturned”, says Julie Fairey after the Roskill Community Voice majority on the  Puketāpapa  Local Board voted last night to confirm its view that housing should remain on the site.

Cr Cathy Casey of City Vision was also at the meeting last night, along with residents from Liston Village and the Chair of the Liston Management Board. “We have a critical housing shortage and a huge waiting list of older people for housing so why on earth would we even consider demolishing 25 good houses at Liston Village,” Casey says.

“After years of work and making this the top advocacy issue for the  Puketāpapa Local Board with the Governing Body of Auckland Council, we received a report last night (here from p97) and endorsed options to use land from Liston Village to improve Monte Cecilia Park, while retaining (and in fact increasing) the total number of Seniors social housing units on the site. This is a practical win-win that we hope and expect will be supported by the Council Committee who will consider the issue in late 2019”, says Julie Fairey.

“We know that the pressure of the Auckland housing market is placing seniors on fixed incomes under huge stress as rents in the private sector are rising steeply.  More Seniors social housing is urgently needed, not bulldozing what we have”, says Anne-Marie Coury, Roskill Community Voice candidate and long time seniors’ advocate.

“The housing situation in Auckland has changed significantly since 2010 when the sale and purchase agreement for Liston was forced through by C&R in the dying days of Auckland City Council. We were saddened but not surprised to once again see C&R speak to support the old plan to remove this much needed housing to add grassed area, and refusing to vote for the win-win options to retain housing while using some Liston Village land to improve the park. It is an obsessive C&R vanity project to make Monte Cecilia park ever-larger. It is a beautiful park, we have supported significant investments in it and it has already grown by 36,600m2 in the last four years, but we also think that housing for Seniors in our community is important”, says Julie Fairey.

“The residents of Liston Village, are a well-connected existing community that deserve our support now and for the future”, says Anne-Marie Coury. “We now urge the Auckland Council Governing body to work with us to ensure the continuation of this much needed Seniors social housing. We will not give up.”

 

(Images below from the 2016 Save Liston Village campaign)

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Playground upgrades

Over the last six years Roskill Community Voice has pushed for playground upgrades through-out Puketapapa.  Some of the old playgrounds were around thirty years old, others had been vandalised repeatedly, and many were of a similar design.  With 13 new playgrounds, and 5 more to come, Puketapapa has become a much better place to play.

puketapapa-playgrounds-sep16

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Environment & Parks

Updated for 2019

Our local environment is a treasure, and we will work to protect and enhance it. Parts of our extensive park network are ideally suited to conservation, and others to a multitude of uses such as dog walking, sportsfields, playgrounds, passive recreation and more. We will balance investment across our area and across the many different needs our parks meet for our community.

What We’ve Done

  • Delivered stage 1 of the Waikōwhai Coast boardwalk, with funding and resource consent secured for stage 2 and construction due in 2020.
  • Got a commitment from Transpower to take down two of the three high voltage power lines running through our community in their long term plan.
  • Consulted on improved playgrounds across our park network, creating a range of play spaces around the area, with new playgrounds coming at Keith Hay Park south and Waikōwhai Park soon.
  • Supported the Manukau Harbour Forum to raise the status of the harbour, and the remediation of the landfill at Waikōwhai Park, as well as funding SafeSwim beach monitoring for our area for the first time.
  • Worked with local communities on concept plans for Arthur Faulkner Reserve, Keith Hay Park, Freeland Reserve, Mt Roskill War Memorial Park, Waikōwhai Park, Monte Cecilia Park, Harold Long and Fearon Parks, Margaret Griffen Park and Hillsborough Cemetery.
  • Put local flavour and expectations into the Te Auaunga Project in Wesley, resulting in the transformation of Walmsley and Underwood Parks with important new amenities, local jobs, and more.
  • Upgraded many local park facilities such as improved three of Keith Hay Parks carparks making them safer and better, improved lighting and fields to increase playing hours at Keith Hay Park and Mt Roskill War Memorial Park, connected Harold Long Reserve and Fearon Park, and continued track improvements along the Waikōwhai Coast.
  • Begun to implement the Te Auaunga Oakley Creek Vision for the upper catchment, in particular at Walmsley and Underwood Parks, with works coming soon at Freeland Reserve and plantings at the Roskill Campus.
  • Completed Puketāpapa’s first Low Carbon Action Plan
  • Funded a long-term programme to remove pine trees from the Cape Horn area
  • Supported organisations working directly with our community on initiatives like Tread Lightly, teaching children about the environmental impact of what we put down the drains, and Healthy Rentals to improve the warmth and dryness of rental housing in the area.
  • Delivered accessibility audits for all major parks in the area, so that people can more easily plan their visits and know what is available to support their activities.

What’s Next

  • Continue to implement the Te Auaunga Oakley Creek Vision for the upper catchment, in particular at Keith Hay Park, Arkells Reserve, and Mt Roskill War Memorial Park.
  • Continue collaborating with other Local Boards through the Manukau Harbour Forum on the next steps after the hydrodynamic modelling for the whanga is complete.
  • Secure a win-win outcome at Monte Cecilia Park the retains seniors social housing and expands the park entrance on the current Liston Village site.
  • Continue developing and improving the track network along the Waikōwhai Coast, with the ultimate aim of providing a connection off-road from Onehunga to Blockhouse Bay at all tides.
  • Get funding for a new playground at Monte Cecilia Park.
  • Continue building infrastructure and community capacity to shift to active low-carbon modes of transport to move around our community, through the Puketāpapa Greenways Plan (reviewed in 2017).
  • Undertake a catchment vision for Wairaki Stream in Lynfield, followed by a concept plan for Lynfield Reserve
  • Support community efforts to improve our local environment through volunteer plantings days, pest control and Friends groups for parks.

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Fairness for Wesley

Mt Roskill has not had it’s fair share over the decades, and Wesley has been particularly badly affected.

In 2013 we pledged to progress Fairness for Wesley through: (updates on each area since 2013 are in brackets):

  • Better library services (We are advocating for Wesley to be the priority for new library services on the isthmus)
  • Education and jobs for our people (Examples include supporting local projects such as Project PETER that focus on skills development in the area, advocating for local employment to be included in the Te Auaunga Awa stormwater programme contracts)
  • A Living Wage (We commited the Puketapapa Local Board to the Living Wage and seeking for all employees and contractors working on Puketapapa projects and work programmes to be paid at least the Living Wage)
  •  Upgrading our parks (Examples include major upgrades of Walmsley and Underwood Parks coming with the stormwater project, including a new playground; improved sporting facilities at Mt Roskill War Memorial Park including the resurfacing of the Lovelock Track)
  •  Fair treatment for housing (Examples include trying to work with Housing New Zealand to encourage good quality state housing, supporting Healthy Homes initiatives, investigating local Warrant of Fitness scheme for rentals)
  •  Traffic safety (Requesting traffic calming be put in on Wesley streets such as O’Donnell and Farrelly, new pedestrian refuge outside the Wesley Community Centre)
  •  Rail to Roskill (Advocating for this project to be on the priority list for Auckland Transport

In 2016 we are updating this list, watch this space!