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Resolution
number HW/2024/141
MOVED by
Chairperson D Light, seconded by Member A White:
That the
Howick Local Board:
a)
whakarite / provide the following
feedback on Auckland Council’s submission to New Zealand’s Second
Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP2), that the Board:
i)
tautoko / support the draft Auckland
Council submission as included in the agenda for the Planning, Environment
and Parks Committee meeting on 15 August 2024. The key submission points of
this are:
A)
urgently reduce gross emissions, therefore
relying less on carbon capture;
B)
ensure coherence across strategies,
policy, and legislation;
C)
move from strong short-term focus to
longer-term ambitious change focus;
D)
support local government, small-medium
enterprise, communities, and Māori;
E)
make sure the approach proposed is a
fair, equitable, and sustainable transition;
F)
including the building and construction
sector and broaden the range of reduction levers;
G)
reconsider the reliance on non-mature
technology and focus on robust measures;
H)
integrate climate change mitigation and
resilience, to enhance reduction and adaption outcomes.
ii)
tuhi ā-taipitopito / note the
relevance of ERP2 to the Howick Local Board Plan (LBP) 2023, and note the
following climate action commitments from the LBP:
A)
implementing the Howick Urban Ngahere
Action Plan 2021 to increase tree canopy coverage on public land by 3%.
B)
improving public transport and
increasing the walking and cycling network.
C)
working with communities to adopt and
restore sensitive ecological areas, improve local water quality and clean up
the environment.
D)
reducing waste to landfill.
E)
developing a local, community-led
climate action plan.
iii)
tautoko / support the following
initiatives:
A)
increased support for local volunteer
groups, to encourage higher levels of vegetation restoration on public land thereby
increasing canopy cover towards the target levels for the Auckland region.
B)
the urgent provision of a waste
recycling plant and hazardous goods disposal site based in the Southern
region of Auckland (namely the Howick, Ōtara-Papatoetoe,
Māngere-Ōtāhuhu, Manurewa, Papakura and Franklin local board
areas).
C)
increased feeder bus routes to
encourage people to use public transport.
iv)
tuhi ā-taipitopito / note that the
Board are currently delivering the following initiatives that could be
leveraged, accelerated, or further supported through ERP2:
A)
limited support for volunteer groups,
which could be improved leading to better outcomes. There are several groups
currently carrying out plant and tree restoration, weed removal, and track
maintenance, however, they regularly have to go cap-in-hand to council for
support for the bare minimum of materials, funding for trees and shrubs to
plant, and approval to carry out work, all of which benefits the entire
community.
B)
more funding for water quality
monitoring to help improve the water quality of our streams and coastal
waterways. This will lead to the return of native fish and crustacean species
to these waterways.
C)
more intensive monitoring of building
sites to ensure silt and rubbish run-off is contained on site is required.
Enforcement and penalties need to be at a higher level to
‘encourage’ compliance.
v)
tuhi ā-taipitopito / note the
following areas that could be improved to further incentivize or reduce
barriers for implementing climate mitigation responses:
A)
increased areas of public land being
made available for new planting, particularly areas that are difficult to
maintain because of topography issues.
B)
encourage central and local governments
to trial new vehicle power technologies e.g. hydrogen, in its fleet. Results
could be made available to the vehicle purchasing public.
C)
kohuki / consider enabling the
provision of electric vehicle charging stations in conjunction with
permitting new intensified housing developments.
vi)
tuhi ā-taipitopito / note the
following additional feedback:
A)
nationally, New Zealand needs to
strongly consider high-tech waste disposal plants that efficiently dispose of
rubbish using very high temperature waste elimination. This is used in other
countries with great success. (It is noted that there has been a recent
suggestion that the Huntly Power Station could be converted for this purpose,
and, presumably, the residual energy could be used to generate electricity).
B)
landowners and farmers with remnant
bush blocks should have the previous tax breaks for retaining these important
stands of trees reinstated, to encourage them to remain in the interests of
maintaining their ‘carbon sink’ factor.
C)
consideration should be given to
ensuring buses allocated to daytime routes through “main street”
shopping areas by either electric or hydrogen. Many cafes rely on outside
seating between 0700 and 1500. The outdoor eating experience is currently
made unpleasant and unhealthy by bus diesel fumes.
D)
modern waste disposal depots should be
built to assist in the safe disposal of difficult waste items. These might be
a collection point for items to be taken elsewhere for recycling/processing
into other usable items or managed disposal; or might provide autoclaves or
similar to actually destroy items.
E)
bring back more enforcement around
vehicles emitting smoke and fumes on our roads. These are usually older and
poorly maintained cars, trucks and buses.
F)
tautoko / support product stewardship
programmes to reduce packaging and improve product re-useability.
CARRIED
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