16 March 2015
Ellerslie Residents Association
PO Box 11-474
Ellerslie
Auckland 1542
Ellerslie Residents Association Submission on the
Draft Auckland Long Term Plan 2015-2025
The Ellerslie Residents Association (ERA) welcomes this opportunity to provide feedback to the Auckland Council (the Council) on the draft Long Term Plan 2015-2025 (the LTP).
The ERA advocates on behalf of Ellerslie Residents to achieve our objective of being the World’s Most Liveable Suburb.We currently possessapproximately 520 subscribers, but this submission has been informed by the opinions and feedback of all those that have filled in surveys and provided feedback to us, includingat our recent February 23 public meeting held in association with the Orakei Local Board.
At this public meeting, we posed the key questions included in the LTP consultation document to residents and members.
The overwhelming majority of Ellerslie residents view transport as a, if not the, major issue facing our suburb and Auckland.
There is, however, indifferent public support for either the Auckland Plan transport option or the basic transport option set out in the LTP.
The LTP includes no significant spending in our suburb. We have seen population growth in Ellerslie of approximately 18% since the 2001 national census, yet the only significant transport upgrade in our suburb or adjacent to our suburb over that period is the now under construction Ellerslie to Greenlane fourth lane extension of State Highway 1, sponsored by NZTA.
Modelling completed by the Council’s independent expert advisory group as part of the investigation into transport funding showed that the Auckland Plan programme delivers worse transport outcomes than we have today.
No modelling is available to inform us of how well our suburb handles the pressures of growth but given the lack of investment planned for our suburb we can only assume outcomes are worse in the future than they are today.
This is simply not good enough.
Successive Council plans have shown congestion worsening for Auckland after the effects of the NZTA sponsored Waterview Connection wear off in the mid-2020s, including the Integrated Transport Programme and the independent advisory board’s work.
Modelled outcomes following completion of the Council’s priority City Rail Link project are incredibly underwhelming for a project of this size.
Cycleways in and around our area are poorly designed, badly located and inadequate to meet the need of cyclists or motorists.
The AMETI project appears as though it is going to increase the pressure on Ellerslie’s transport network, not reduce it.
In short, we see nothing in the LTP for our suburb except for rates increases and the potential for a new tax to fund projects which serve other communities.
Ellerslie residents have seen rates increases of up to 50 per cent over the life of the Auckland Council, with very little to show for that additional spending.
Our predominant local board area, Orakei, currently contributes 17 per cent of all rates collected in Auckland, but receives back in spending a fraction of that figure.
We have asked the Council through formal processes like this one and informally for money for a community centre and library, something our polls of residents show is the single highest priority for our suburb. Yet we have received nothing. Indeed, money has not even been set aside for a investigation of a library and community centre in our suburb.
We have applied for funding to investigate restoration of the Ellerslie Eagles Rugby League Clubrooms facility for use as a community events facility. We have received nothing.
The only Council capital committed to our suburb under the Auckland Council regime has been resurfacing of the Michael’s Ave and Ellerslie Domain parks.
This expenditure has been gladly received yet, in the case of Michael’s Ave , is inadequate to complete the project. The final stage of the Michael’s Ave upgrade is currently unfunded, leaving our community with a semi-complete public facility.
This is not, in the strong view of Ellerslie residents, good enough.
We request a change to Auckland Council’s capital expenditure policy.
We would like to see 20 per cent of all rates collected in a local board area committed to capital spending in that local board area.
Of the remaining portion which is not consume by operational spending, w consider it should be allocated according to growth.
That is, the more residents a local board area is prepared to accommodate, the higher its relative capital allocation should be. No growth should be tied to no capital investment.
This approach would facilitate implementation of the Unitary Plan and should be consulted on in tandem with that process.
Our other key recommendation is that the Council looks more broadly at funding opportunities for capital projects. We consider that a condition of consent for major urban redevelopments should be provision of community services to offset the impact of new development on existing residents.
We understand there is currently an investor looking at a major urban redevelopment around the Ellerslie train station.
We think such a project could represent an exemplar for more integrated thinking about development and community services.
Currently we have in Ellerslie a much higher demand for carparking, particularly for use as park and ride, than we have availability of carparks. We would like to see, and be involved in, discussions which investigate the addition of carparking for park and ride services attached to this development proposal. Such an agreement would help alleviate community concerns over new apartments reducing the availability of on street parking in our suburb and provide a tangible reason to facilitate new intensified development close to public transport in alignment with council objectives.
Key questions
At our public meeting on February 23, we posed the following questions from the LTP to Ellerslie residents and received the following responses:
Question 1a: Do you agree with the proposed overall average general rates increase of 3.5 per cent each year, which will enable the proposed investment and spending outlined in this document?
- Disagree
Question 1b: If you do not agree, in which activity areas do you think we should spend more or spend less, and what level of general rates increase would you support?
- There is strong support in Ellerslie for the promises made by the Mayor through the 2013 election to be kept. Residents do not support any rates increase above 2.5 per cent. Given the level of inflation, the preferred rates level of residents is approximately 1 per cent increase per annum. Residents, furthermore, consider this increase should be met through increases to the UAGC (discussed below).
- In order to operate within the limits of a 1 -2.5 per cent per annum increase in rates per annum, whilst also increasing the level of investment in transport beyond the basic network to deliver the transport options and congestion outcomes Aucklanders expect, Ellerslie residents want cuts in non-transport areas. Governance, in particular, was identified by residents as a key area for streamlining. Expenditure on staff and consultants at the Council and its subsidiaries is unsustainable and restructuring of Council processes to enable rationalisation of staff and resources should be the priority of Council. The Council should work with the Government to identify regulatory and other areas which are placing pressures on Council resources inconsistent with the benefit received and agree measures to streamline these processes. We consider much could be gained, as well as saved, from a greater reliance on local skills and knowledge to effect local decision making. The centralisation of decision making in an institution divorced from local issues is in our view a major driver of rising council costs.
- We recommend that a fixed sum is allocated each year out of every local board’s rates take for local capital projects. We consider a figure of around 20 per cent of all capital spending should be tied to local projects.
Question 2a: Do you support the basic transport network or do you think we should invest more to get the Auckland Plan transport network that would address our transport problems?
- Residents do not consider the basic transport plan to be adequate, but nor do residents find the Auckland Plan option to provide materially better outcomes for Ellerslie. Indeed, the Council’s own modelling shows that the Auckland Plan network delivers many worse outcomes than today, indicating that the phrasing of this question is extremely inappropriate in a context of genuine public consultation.
Question 2b: If we decide to invest in the Auckland Plan transport network, how do you think Aucklanders should pay for it?
Annual fuel tax increase of 1.2 cents per litre and an overall average annual rates increase of around one per cent each year (in addition to the proposed 3.5 per cent overall average general rates increase).
A motorway user charge of around $2 each time people enter Auckland’s motorway system, which would be free at night and may vary by time of day.
- Neither option is preferred by residents. Residents want improved transport and want the council to seriously and rigorously investigate cutting other activity spending. That is, we do not consider that the Council’s options presented here to be honest or fair. Council has chosen to fundamentally retain all other expenditure plans whilst cutting transport spending, despite being aware that this is the highest priority of Auckland residents. Council has now presented residents with a choice between congestion and poor public transport or more taxes because it knows how deeply unpopular these outcomes are. This is not open and this is not genuine consultation.
- We would like to see other activities cut, particularly around governance, before consideration is given to additional taxes.
Question 2c: Are there any specific projects or priorities e.g. cycleways, improved public transport services or more bus lanes, we should focus on delivering as part of the basic transport network or the Auckland Plan transport network?
- We would like to see establishment of a rail line between the Eastern and Southern rail lines between Penrose and Sylvia Park. This would enable a loop rail service to be provided on the isthmus and would facilitate transfer between different rail lines, which currently is time consuming and inefficient.
- We would like to see the existing cycleway through Ellerslie replaced. It is dangerous and because it is dangerous is not well patronised. Our submission on the RLTP includes our preferred route for an Ellerslie cycleway.
Question 4: What do you think the fixed portion of rates (UAGC) that everyone pays should be?
- Ellerslie residents consider that the UAGC should be increased to meet a 1-2.5 per cent (with a preference towards 1 per cent) per annum overall increase in rates for the next three years.
Question 6a: Which local board does your feedback relate to?
- Orakei Local Board
Question 6b: Do you support the proposals for your local board area?
- The top community service priority for residents in Ellerslie is a library. We have conducted polling on this issue and it has been discussed at local meetings for three years. We are happy to share this information with the Auckland Council.We request that the LTP identify funding for investigation of a library for Ellerslie.
- The top recreational priority for Ellerslie Residents is renovation of the Ellerslie Eagles Clubrooms and transformation of the facility into a wider community asset providing a venue for a range of community activities as well as rugby league.
We thank the Council for this opportunity to submit.
Any requests or questions in relation to this submission can be made to:
Bryan Johnson
Chair
Ellerslie Residents Association
027 276 6900