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Waitākere
Ranges Local Board
24 September
2015
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Portfolio
update: Member Neil Henderson
File No.:
CP2015/19629
Purpose
1. This
report provides an opportunity for Member Neil Henderson to give an update with
regards to activity within his portfolio areas.
2. Portfolio
holders are responsible for leading policy development in their portfolio area,
proposing and developing project concepts, overseeing agreed projects within
budgets, being active advocates, accessing and providing information and
advice.
3. Member
Henderson has lead for the portfolios of Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area
including walkways, Greenways, as well as Sport and Recreation.
Executive Summary
Sport and Recreation portfolio
4. The
WRLB put $15,000 towards a Waka Ama feasibility study for the Waitakere Ranges
area of the Manukau Harbour. Council staff are presently working with the
funding recipients to finalise the feasibility study contract, and we are
looking forward to the study getting underway.
5. The
Perris Road section of the Swanson walkway is advancing with some clearing work
and fixing of fences underway. We are looking to run a working bee with
volunteers in the spring, as part of a community day.
Sport Waitakere – Healthy Families launch
6. On
August 29 I was fortunate to be able to attend the launch of the Government
funded program, Healthy Families which will bring around four million dollars
of funding out west for the next four years. The event was well attended and
the Minister for Health and Sport, Dr Jonathan Coleman, presented a video that
had been made to promote the program. Later he found the time to join me in
kicking a football around and to play a traditional Maori game on the grass.
7. Healthy
Families is an interesting new focus for Sport Waitakere, driving in as it does
on choices people make, not only around physical activity, the traditional turf
of Sports Waitakere, but also around how to sustain a healthy weight, being
smoke–free and drinking only in moderation. The programme aims to be
multi-faceted in that it hopes to improve people’s health where they live,
learn, work and play, with the hope that through this integration, the
development of chronic disease might be prevented. I have been waiting in
anticipation of the programs roll out and I will be making sure that the
Waitakere Ranges Local Board area gets a piece of the pie.
Waitakere
Ranges Heritage Area portfolio
8. At
the last series of Portfolio catchups with staff, the following things were
discussed:
· Community
forum update - Te Wao nui a Tiriwa: Standing Up for the Waitākere Ranges will be happening on Thursday 15 October 2015 at
Titirangi War Memorial Hall, so I encourage people to come along and take part.
We are working to finalise the programme and have been discussing the role of
local board members in presenting on themes for this forum. Te Warena from Te
Kawerau a Maki will be the key note speaker .Topics for the forum will be
available to the public shortly.
· Local Area Plans (LAPs)
– the Te Henga (Bethells Beach) and Waitakere River Valley LAP is due to be
reported back to the local board in October. We approved funding last month (13
August 2015) for Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area Programme Area to continue
implementing our existing local area plans. Some actions in the LAPs are best
taken forward by the community, and we have been discussing how to better
promote the local board’s community grants scheme to support community action
of that kind.
· Just under $20,000 of
the current WRHA budget is still unallocated. Work is continuing to scope
and provide cost estimates for the following projects shortlisted for
consideration by the Local Board:
o information about the Heritage Area: Heritage Area brochure for
visitors
o community education and engagement in the monitoring and protection
of threatened coastal birds (penguins and grey faced petrels) in the ecosystems
of Te Henga, Piha and Karekare
o threatened species research: a study to assess the feasibility of
re-introducing dactylanthus / pua o te reinga (also known as wood rose or Hades flower), and in the longer term
the short-tailed bat, to the Waitākere Ranges. We have had an initial
response from Rebecca Stanley at the Auckland Botanic gardens and she is
certain that there may be some residual populations of dactylanthus still in
the Waitakere Ranges and this would certainly need to be followed up on before
moving ahead with any introductions from other areas. I want to take a good
look at what else is happening to protect threatened species in the Waitakere
Ranges Heritage Area to see if there are areas of advocacy we need to take up.
Dactylanthus taylorii(From Wikipedia)
o Rural land
management practice: a capacity building project that identifies, documents and
promotes existing practices of sustainable land management that protect valued
landscapes, enhance the biodiversity of local areas and are economically
sustainable.
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Recommendation
That the Waitākere Ranges Local Board:
a) Receives the
portfolio update from Member Neil Henderson.
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Attachments
There are no attachments for this report.
Signatories
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Authors
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Tua Viliamu – Democracy Advisor
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Authorisers
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Glenn Boyd - Relationship Manager Henderson-Massey,
Waitakere Ranges, Whau
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