What price Development?
As a long-time resident of Ellerslie, and prior to that Mt Wellington, I love the area so it was with great sadness that I witnessed today the Power of the Almighty Dollar.
When the Racing Club developed the Hunterville/Derby Downs subdivision in 1996, a condition of the development was the planting of the boundaries along Ladies Mile and along the Racing Club/Hunterville Court boundary. This has produced an environment encouraging bird life including tui, swifts, waxeyes, green finches, fantails to name a few.
For many years the residents have been working with the Ellerslie Racing Club to ensure that their proposed developments were suitable for both the new residents and the existing ones.
We have spent many hundreds of hours studying the documents, submitted to the EPA under the Fast Track Legislation, for the Resource Consent to develop The Hill. This included an arborist report identifying the trees in the development and how they would be protected during construction. Mature native trees on the Racecourse/Hunterville Court boundary, including 8 meter Totora and Kauri trees, were deemed to be on private properties and therefore not to be affected by the development.
A few days ago, the developers, Fletcher Living, did a letterbox drop informing neighbours that they would be starting to clear vegetation on the boundary.
When we asked how they were going to manage the areas around the Kauri trees, subject to the new Kauri hygiene regulations that came into force on the 2nd August, they replied “if the Kauri trees are on Racecourse land they will be removed”.
We have spent the last few days attempting to secure the future of these trees, including offering to purchase the land on which they were growing, or paying to get the trees transplanted elsewhere.
Treescape said that they could transplant the 30 year old Kauri trees, but before that could be arranged I heard a crash, went outside and found the mature natives had been cut down!
Yesterday more than 12 tui were roosting in the large Totora, today they are homeless.
What is the purpose of the Resource Consent Legislation if the power of large companies can circumvent it so easily?
Why do we have Kauri Hygiene regulations to protect the future of our unique Kauri trees, if a large company can ignore the regulations?
It saddens me to realise that the ordinary person has virtually no say in what environment we leave for our children. Trees that took 30 years to grow and would be still growing in 100 years’ time, were gone in a few minutes and for what – a few more dollars in the pockets of the Developers who will move on and leave their mess behind.
Poll: Have you had a pen pal?
With the invention of the internet and mobile phone communication, pen pals seem to be a thing of the past but it was a common practice at one point.
Did you have a pen pal? Where did you meet them? Share below!
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64% Yes
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35.7% No
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0.3% Other - I'll share below!
Let's get social
Tell us what groups you'd like to see in your area...(walking groups, coffee meet-ups, swing dancing, a family tree group - anything at all!)
Or if you are already in a great group, share it here for others to get involved.
Latest scams to look out for 👀
Neighbourly hopes to keep you safe by keeping you informed of the latest scams circulating. This week, we are sharing two common text message scams:
NZTA / Waka Kotahi scam:
- The scam is a text message saying it's from New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi, and it encourages the recipient to pay an overdue road toll by visiting a fake website, threatening to take the matter to court within 15 days if they don’t pay up.
- The aim is to trick people into giving away their personal details or pay them money.
- While it is not the first time toll payments have been utilised by scammers, the threat of court action could see more people fall victim.
- The sender will either be a unknown phone number or unknown email address.
Want to report one of these scams? Do so, on Netsafe
NZ Post scam:
- This scam arrives by test message and says it's from NZ Post.
- The premise is that delivery of your parcel was unsuccessful so in order to rearrange delivery. you must click on a link to give your correct address.
- The aim is to trick people into giving away their personal details or pay them money.
- NZ Post advises people not to click the link, but to report the message to the Department of Internal Affairs by forwarding it to 7726.
Think you may have fallen prey to a scam? Get in touch with Netsafe or contact your bank if it involved your bank details.
Remember, if you didn't expect the message and you are now asked to share personal details or money, then stop contact and seek advice elsewhere.
Feel free to share any below that you've encountered recently. This may help others across the country be aware.
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