Significant news for those affected by the ASC

by | Apr 11, 2019 | MailChimp

ASC = Auckland Shooting Club

As per a public Facebook post, published yesterday (https://www.facebook.com/1313080602124534/posts/2016606531771934?sfns=mo):

“The Court of Appeal has found in favour of the Vipassana Trust. The Auckland Shooting Club’s consent (a CoC) was wrongly issued and has been set aside, not just from today, but from the time of issue. The Auckland Shooting Club should never have been in operation, and their CoC is gone for good. They cannot legally operate.” (post continues…)

Radio NZ reported the story this morning here: https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018690441/shooting-club-told-to-close-meditation-centre-neighbours-celebrate

Further to this, another report says that the club president has resigned with some further details here: https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/386798/gun-club-president-resigns-after-closure-order-and-residents-fears?fbclid=IwAR01aOMogE0rP3HlZkDOpwhoi-lNs9R8erRD6eAwLrfLTPH9dSoDRjzz4FY

For some this will be significant, and very welcomed news, for others it may not be welcomed. Either way, it is still significant news which we felt ought to be shared. The link above is a public link which you can visit, even without a facebook account.

Concept Drawings of the Ahuroa Hall

by | Apr 11, 2019 | MailChimp

Hi everyone, as you may or may not know, the Ahuroa Hall Advisory Committee is planning to relocate the Ahuroa Hall to a better location to make it easier to use, warmer and improve its usability.

We plan to move it up onto the flat area behind the hall next to the School Pool. We have presented our idea to the Rodney Local Board and they are supporting us.

We would now like to get some concept drawings made up, so we are canvassing the local community for someone with the skills (or learning the skills at Uni or School) that would be able to mock up a couple of drawings for us which we can share with the community and other organisations.

Is there someone who is willing to help us with this? If so, please contact Jo Bullock on bullock_joanna@hotmail.com or 021 116 7251

Changes to mail-outs. Now, just once per day @ 6pm

by | Apr 10, 2019 | MailChimp

Mail Chimp has recently changed their service, requiring all mailing list operators to update their software which has rendered our automatic website postings through to Mail Chimp inoperable. Unfortunately, it simply doesn’t work any more.

There are plenty of other ways of sorting this, and we’ve settled on a daily summary of all posts which have come in through the day, sent out as a collection, once a day, at 6pm.

This is the first of those new types of emails. – One of the major changes is that you’ll not see the post subjects in your email subject line any more (as each email might carry a number of posts in them). So you’ll just have to open or preview the email in order to read the headers / contents. (That shouldn’t be too much of an issue).

We will still operate urgent notices as required by individual send-outs, like neighbourhood support – urgent notices etc.

This change should also help to keep the number of individual emails which turn up in your mailbox down a little, hopefully you’ll all approve of that. I know I get too many emails every day!

Work wanted

by | Apr 2, 2019 | MailChimp

Looking to earn extra money. Happy to do any type of work required in the Makarau area. Experience with fence repairs, gardening, manual labour, tidying up, cleaning, cooking.

Please email me joshua021@hotmail.co.nz if you have anything available. Happy to consider anything. Wages negotiable.

Regards Josh

Sheep needed

by | Mar 22, 2019 | MailChimp

Do you have a sheep or two that you’re happy to donate towards a great cause?? 🐏🐑🐏🐑
Ahuroa School is hosting the Fair, Feast & Laser Lights Show on 6th April 2019, with the intention of completing our Outdoor Classroom. 
We’re on the lookout for 2 sheep for our spits – delicious lamb rolls will be sold at the Fair!! 🌯🌯🌯
The sheep will need to be dropped off (to Susan Greenwood) by next Wednesday 27th March 
OR she will arrange to pick them up from you if you have yards and a loading race.
If you’d like to donate a sheep (or two), please contact us at ptfa@ahuroa.school.nz 😊

Auckland Regional Council – Plan Change 20

by | Mar 21, 2019 | MailChimp

Some of you may have recently received a letter from the Auckland Council titled ‘Proposed Plan Change 20 – Rural Activity Status’? – If you have, and you struggled to know what it was about, or what this might mean for you, then the post which Phelan Pirrie (Rodney Local Council Board member) has recently posted into the Kaukapakapa Group on facebook, may help.

Link for those of you in that group (it is a closed group): https://www.facebook.com/groups/kaukapakapa/permalink/10157200196582431/

—- Phelan’s post follows —-

Plan Change 20.

A number of rural residents will have received a letter from Council about a proposed Plan Change to the rural ‘activity tables’ in the Auckland Unitary Plan (AUP).

It is probably a confusing jumble of planning jargon for anyone without a Degree in Planning so I’m going to try and explain it in plain English and in less than 2000 words (and I don’t have a planning degree).

The Auckland Unitary Plan is constantly being tested by land owners and developers and parts of it need to be reviewed because there may be unintended consequences of clauses.

In this situation there is a table of activities (see screen shots below) in ‘H19 Rural Zones’ that provides a list of things you’d normally expect to see in a rural area, and defines whether they are;
Permitted (you can just get on with it),
Controlled, (you need a consent),
Restricted Discretionary (you need a consent, and Council can choose whether to grant one or impose conditions),
Non-Complying (you need a consent but there’s a high bar applicants must jump to prove activity is OK),
Prohibited (forget it)

This link explains all the different activities in reasonably plain English. http://www.environmentguide.org.nz/…/resource-consents-and…/

Council has had some resource consent applications that have gone to the Environment Court and the judge has taken an interpretation of the AUP that wasn’t what was intended by Council and the intent of the plan.

They are proposing to change the Rural Zones activities table so that everything NOT in the table will be ‘Non-Complying’. Currently, it is ‘Discretionary’. This would set a higher bar meaning applicants would have to show that the proposed activity would not be contrary to the objectives of the AUP and the effects would be less than minor.

This would mean that you are less likely to have an unexpected non-rural type activity springing up next to you.

The other change is a change of the term ‘residential dwelling’ to ‘dwelling’ – this is due to an application where the judge’s interpretation of ‘residential dwelling” was a ‘residential care business in a three storey building complex’.

I can give some examples but it would tip me over the 2000 words.

You can make a submission on the proposed Plan Change on this link…

https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/…/pc-20-rural-activity-…

—- His screenshots have been included here too: —-

—- I hope this helps people make better sense of what they’ve sent out ?? – Chris. Below is a copy of the original letter received from the council. —-