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: If we want to reduce speeding, what do you think actually changes driver behaviour? 🛻🚨🚓
In the Post's article on speeding penalties, the question is asked whether speeding fines are truly about road safety, or are they just a way to boost revenue for the Crown?
What do you think? Should speeding motorists receive speeding fines or demerit points?
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36.3% The sting of a fine (Money talks!)
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63.7% The threat of demerit points (Nobody wants to lose their license!)
Scam Alert: Bank cold calls
ASB is warning customers about reports of cold calls from scammers claiming to be from ASB. These scammers are trying to obtain personal information, including usernames, dates of birth, and verification codes sent to your mobile phone.
🛡️ The "Caller Check" Test
If you get a call from someone claiming to be from ASB and you’re unsure, just ask them for a Caller Check. You will then be able to verify the call through the app.
Remember, banks will:
❌ Never ask for your banking passwords, PINs, or verification codes
❌ Never need to know your full credit card number – especially the CVC
❌ Never ask you to download software or remotely access your device
❌ Never ask you to purchase gift cards or transfer funds.
If you have received a phone call and think your account has been compromised, call ASB on 0800 ASB FRAUD (0800 272 372), or visit your local branch.
Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
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