1st OCTOBER 2007

Partnering Statement And Anniversary Reasons To Celebrate

The Waitakere City Council and the EcoMatters Environment Trust both have plenty of reasons to celebrate this week.

Representatives from both parties will sign a Partnering Statement on Friday, 5th October while jointly celebrating EcoMatters fifth successful year of operation.

The celebrations will take place at the Western Bowling Club in New Lynn, near the home of EcoMatters, the Sustainable Living Centre and the Now Home (a tenanted sustainable home built by the Beacon Project), and commence with a powhiri at 4pm.

The Partnering Statement will be jointly signed by Waitakere City Council Mayor, Bob Harvey, Waitakere City Council chief executive officer, Harry O’Rourke, EcoMatters Environment Trust Board Chairman, Kevin Healy and EcoMatters’ chief executive officer, Gretchen Schubeck.

The statement acknowledges the relationship between EcoMatters and the Council and recognises that both organisations are committed to the creation of an environmentally sustainable city and working together to achieve this objective. It also outlines how both organisations will work together, their roles and responsibilities, how the relationship will be managed, dispute resolution and resourcing.

This statement is only the second of its kind that the Council has signed, the first being Community Waitakere.

Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey says EcoMatters has made a hugely positive contribution to the city since forming in 2002 and he is delighted its fifth anniversary coincides with the signing of the Partnering Statement.

Ms Schubeck says the Partnering Statement acknowledges the close strategic partnership between EcoMatters and the Council and will be beneficial for residents and both organisations.

“Until now we have had a memorandum of undertaking with our other key partners - Keep Waitakere Beautiful, the WeedFree Trust and the Tag Out Trust - but no formal agreement with the Council. This new Partnering Statement outlines how we agree to work with each other going forward and it will be great for the community as well.

“There is a really good symbiotic relationship around what we want to achieve between the Council, the residents and ourselves. More and more people are engaging with the work that EcoMatters is undertaking. They start out by reporting graffiti, then get their home retrofitted, then get involved in tree planting. And that is ideally what we want to happen.”

EcoMatters is believed to be the only organisation of its kind in New Zealand having formed in 2002 after consolidation of the expertise and experience of three separate community-based trusts (Keep Waitakere Beautiful, the Tag Free Trust and the WeedFree Trust). It plays a key role in engaging with the community of Waitakere on urban environmental issues.

A key area of the Trust’s work is retrofitting homes with insulation across Waitakere City and making them more comfortable for residents to live in. Since 2002, EcoMatters has retrofitted nearly 1750 homes with 600 homes alone being retrofitted in the past year.

“We have three teams doing our retrofitting work and they do a fantastic job,” Ms Schubeck says. “We get a huge number of letters from people saying how courteous the guys were when they were working at their home and what a difference retrofitting has made to their lives. They get a lot of thanks for the work they do and are well looked after with home baking!”

Among the many local residents to have written to EcoMatters over the past five years is Mrs Elaine Schultz of Titirangi who contacted EcoMatters earlier this year regarding the ‘Water Wise-Up Programme’, which EcoMatters delivers on behalf of Council.

Mrs Schultz utilised the advice of EcoMatters’ sustainability advisor (Jacob Rawls) when looking to reduce the water flow in her showers. She says it was “a great experience” from the initial call to EcoMatters, to the visit by Jacob and installation of Satin-flow shower heads by a registered plumber.

“I’m very glad Council is offering this to ratepayers. One of our showers has reduced from 27 litres per minute to two! The other from 17 to seven! I’ve had excellent advice regarding a variety of things including watering my garden property, avoiding evaporation, the best type of hose and covering the garden in bark. My water usage wasn’t excessive in the first place but it all helps and it’s made me much more interested in an eco-sustainable life.”

Eighty-two-year-old Glen Eden resident, Christine Howell, was thrilled when the team at EcoMatters installed insulation in her home. Earlier in the year she wrote a thank you letter to EcoMatters saying she was pleased to be able to enjoy the benefits of a much warmer home. A West Harbour resident was equally pleased with the insulation work carried out by EcoMatters saying her home is “much warmer” and that the moisture levels have been greatly reduced.

EcoMatters opened its neighbouring Sustainable Living Centre in 2004 and, the area, combined with the Now Home, has become a recognised sustainable and environmental hub across wider Auckland. The Sustainable Living Centre stages regular workshops, seminars and open days. For more information visit www.ecomatters.org.nz

ENDS

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