Wednesday, 10 June 2009 - Issue 73

In this update:
Cats | Spatial plan | Hero of the week

Cats

Shan and I were particularly lucky to attend the opening night of the new stage show at the Civic, 'Cats'.

It was an amazing show put on in the wonderful surroundings of the Civic Theatre. The theatre was sold out and the stage show, starring Tina Cross and Shane Cortese, was an outstanding success. The show has a direct connection to the Manukau community in the fact that it is being put on primarily by the Harlequin Musical Theatre company based at Howick.

This is a fabulous story. The theatre company is made up primarily of locals and chaired by Sue Rossiter. They have taken a massive gamble and put their reputation on the line by investing energy and resources into this significant theatre event.

If the first night is anything to go by their gamble will pay off in spades. We attended the post opening night celebrations and Sue and her team were clearly enraptured with the response to the evening and with ticket sales thus far.

There's nothing like following your dreams and taking well-calculated risks and viewing them as opportunities. I am hugely proud of the Harlequin Musical Theatre for their courage, vision and passion for the stage. 'Cats' is a fabulous show and they have done the musical genius of Andrew Lloyd Weber proud.

Spatial plan_
A couple of weeks ago I presented on behalf of our council our draft spatial plan to the Franklin District Council and this week I'll present to the Papakura District Council.

A spatial plan identifies the what, where, when and how growth, both residential and commercial, will take place for the long term. Our draft strategic spatial plan, Towards 2060 – Our City's Future, is the vision of Manukau's growth for the next 50 years and will contribute to the development of the Auckland Regional Policy Statement which is now being reviewed.

These plans take into consideration population trends, business growth and development trends, present zoning and potential future zoning, risks and assessments of future urban growth. They also primarily determine the limits on urban growth within our region. In the south, we sit right on the border of residential growth within the metropolitan urban limits, which restricts where we can grow on both the east and the western sides of our city.

Papakura has metropolitan limit zones around its township. But Franklin is very much in the cross-hairs of pressure for population growth and development and is critical in determining how we manage the impact of our suburban growth on the environment and particularly on our farming land.

Regionally, we have made some decisions on constraining where our growing population goes through metropolitan and urban limits. This is to encourage intensification and therefore reducing the impact on our natural environment. It will also increase the opportunity to improve public transport and therefore encourage more people to use it.

This urban limit has caused considerable grief and debate within councils particularly from the development community, which has maintained that it is constraining their activity, and secondly that it is leading to significant increases in land prices because it is drying up land values with residential development being more intensive. I have always, however, been particularly concerned that there has been a real cost not just to the environment but also economically to the largely unbridled spread of Auckland into various parts of the region particularly along main transport corridors.

The cost for a burgeoning city like Manukau to chase this economic growth is significant. To chase this population growth and urban sprawl is significant. Roading costs, stormwater costs, wastewater costs, waste costs are all predicated on the constant laying out of pavement and housing and commercial platforms. We've arrived at a time where it is essential for us to balance our spread outwards with increasing focus on brownfields developments in existing residential or commercial areas.

Part of the debate within the Auckland super city structure discussion is that both Franklin to the south and Rodney to the north see their primarily rural concerns being undermined by the overwhelming residential and commercial concerns of the five other councils. Franklin in particular is concerned that the natural environment and rural land in and around the southern part of the Auckland region is protected.

Reflecting on Franklin's concerns, a debate that has not been had and which is needed, is around keeping our rural land close to our residential and commercial communities, especially when looking out 50 to 100 years. In my view this will be a hugely important and strategic advantage. As a city Vancouver went through similar challenges in the 1980s and '90s and legislated to protect their farmland close to the urban heartland. I suspect that it is timely, through this process, that we have the same debate on our close arable lands.

Hero of the Week: Tunei Loftin_
My community hero this week is Tunei Loftin. She and her husband Colin are long-term residents of Orere Point. Tunei is an extraordinary worker in the local community - she and husband Colin often do some work for the small number of residents in the Orere Point-Kawakawa Bay area. Every year Tunei does something very special in her community. She organises a Christmas function, self-funded, with the support of friends for the elderly in that community. She has 120 to 130 senior citizens turn up and she puts on a fantastic Christmas function. This is only part of the care and attention she gives to this small village. She is wonderful person with a generous spirit.

Have a good week!

Len Brown
Mayor of Manukau

ENDS

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