Aotea / Great Barrier Local Board Plan 2020 adopted

Thank you

Thank you for your having your say on our draft Aotea / Great Barrier Local Board Plan 2020.

In July 2020 we consulted on our draft plan and received 48 online submissions, 29 written submissions and three verbal submissions.

We are extremely grateful for the time and consideration taken by our community in providing feedback on our plan.

The plan has one focussed outcome ‘Ko te tino hia hia ki a manawaroa to tatou motu / Our island is resilient’ and we were pleased by the level of support for this approach.

Changes made as a result of feedback

Outlined below are the key themes that arose from the feedback and a few changes we made as a result:

• The topic with the highest feedback was marine protection and we added a new initiative for further community engagement on an Ahu Moana approach and advocacy for commercial fisheries reform.
• A majority of the twenty-one submissions received regarding the Lord Howe Island reference requesting its removal. The reference was removed from the final version of the plan.
• Feedback was received on increasing support for social connections to improve community wellbeing, so initiatives were added for social connectedness and an investigation into an on-island bus service.
• Feedback was received regarding risk management for the Claris landfill, waste signage and composting, so an initiative was added regarding the Claris landfill closure and keywording included for visitor waste signage and composting.

What happens next

Our final Aotea / Great Barrier Local Board Plan 2020 was adopted at an extraordinary business meeting on 3 November 2020. The final plan, including formatting and photographs, will be uploaded to the Auckland Council website early next year.

Read the interim copy of the plan.

10-year Budget (Long Term Plan)

Auckland Council will soon be making decisions on its 10-year Budget. Please look out for public consultation on the 10-year Budget over 22 February to 22 March 2021. Some tough decisions will need to be made in these challenging economic times and it would be good to have your input.

You’re welcome to register to have your say on the 10-year Budget. We will be advocating to the Governing Body, on behalf of Aotea / Great Barrier, for items including:

• Expanding the renewable energy micro-grid of our council facilities to include Claris airport and provide public electric vehicle charging facilities
• Seeking a policy change to prohibit all marine dumping
• Establishing an emergency water supply and water plan for our island
• Advocating for more priority to be given to the increasing issue of dust on unsealed roads, caused by climate change and record levels of drought
• Investigating a potential visitor levy to respond to the impacts of tourism.

Your submissions were important in helping to shape our priorities for the island over the next three years, so once again, thank you for your feedback.

Nga mihi

Izzy Fordham

Aotea / Great Barrier Local Board Chair.