The time has come for people opposed to the potential sale of a group of east Auckland public reserves to make their voices heard.
Auckland Council wants to dispose of green spaces it owns at 111R Golfland Drive, 9R Fortyfoot Lane, 76R Aberfeldy Avenue, and 31 Aspiring Avenue/17R Hilltop Road.
The Howick Local Board voted late last year to retain the reserves, but the council’s finance and performance committee overrode it and voted to put them up for sale.
A lengthy legal process, which involves final sign-off by the Government, must be worked through before that can happen.
The move is part of an effort by the council to raise money through its emergency budget, which requires $224 million to be realised from “asset recycling”.
Among the people opposing the reserves’ sale are Howick ward councillors Sharon Stewart and Paul Young, and Pakuranga MP Simeon Brown and Botany MP Christopher Luxon.
A group of east Auckland residents are also doing their bit to stop the move.
They recently presented a petition to mayor Phil Goff that was signed by people from more than 450 local households calling for the properties to be kept in public hands.
The council has now publicly notified its intention to revoke the reservation of the public reserves in Fortyfoot Lane, Aberfeldy Avenue, and Golfland Drive, as well as part of the site of a former fuel station at 2R Ti Rakau Drive, Pakuranga.
“The reserves are surplus to council’s requirements and are not required for council’s current or future service,” it says.
“It is proposed that the land may be sold to an adjoining owner or on the open market.”
The Howick Local Board voted to dispose of six council-owned properties in its area in September last year, including the 2R Ti Rakau Drive property, but wanted to retain the four public reserves which the council now intends to sell.
People who wish to object to the proposed revocation of the properties’ reserve status can email their objection to propertyreview@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz or write to the Chief Executive, Auckland Council, Private Bag 92300, Auckland 1142, Attention: Moira Faumui, no later than 5pm on March 31.
