Hi LBRA Members and locals,
Well, the “Californian summer” finally came to an end with the gardens and water tanks enjoying some welcome rain! With the wet and colder weather, there’s an increase in rats and mice, and I’ve personally started my April pulse – my predator peanut butter jar is busy – 10 mice and 1 rat caught in less than a week, making our Predator Free Long Bay efforts all the more important!
Major Activities/Initiatives:
Predator Protect Our Community
On March 6th our “Protect Our Community” meeting highlighted several pressing concerns affecting safety, environmental health, and community well-being. The meeting was well attended with voices from the Long Bay and Okura communities, as well as the local board and other organisations providing valuable input. During the meeting we workshopped “What, Why and How”, which highlighted issues such as vehicles speeding, burnouts, noise pollution, underage drinking, rubbish dumping, vandalism, and pedestrian safety concerns, with the problems being particularly bad in locations such as Piripiri Point Drive and Ralph Eagles Place. Collaboratively, the issues were reviewed and various solutions proposed to address those issues identified. There are significant challenges for enforcement and a further drive for communication among stakeholders is needed. The forward plan is to present a report of the outputs to Auckland Transport, Police and other relevant stakeholders for review, further planning and action where possible.
One of the key messages of the meeting was for all residents to report issues. If they are actively occurring/immediate/urgent please call 111 or if it is non-urgent 105 providing appropriate details such as location, time, vehicle license plates, and description of people involved. You can also report non-urgent issues online at https://www.police.govt.nz/use-105. The more calls are logged, the more attention/responses we will get!
If you would like to provide further feedback, anonymously if you prefer, please do so at https://bit.ly/lbprotect or by scanning the QR Code. Or send us an email to longbayra@gmail.com.
Quarterly Community Cleanup
On the 15th of March we held our quarterly Community Cleanup, with a very solid turnout of young and not so young residents providing their valuable time to help pickup rubbish around Long Bay. Some places were looking pretty good, but other spots, especially around building sites and under the bridge were needing attention. A friendly reminder to developers and builders – please ensure your sites are clean and tidy!
Our next cleanup will be on Saturday 21st June – hope to see you there!
Predator Free NZ Funding: Long Bay Predator Halo
Act now! 🐀 Long Bay rats and mice are looking for warmer/dryer spots at your house.
Get involved in our Predator Free NZ initiative and receive a funded (free) rat trap. Fill our survey at https://bit.ly/lbrapest, or complete and send back a consent form https://bit.ly/lbpestconsent via email to longbayra@gmail.com. Let’s help the bird life thrive in Long Bay and protect the regional park!
Project Update: since getting PFNZ funding Restore Hibiscus and Bays + the Long Bay Residents’ Association have been busy planning and door knocking. We’ve received 30+ consents from residents and have 10+ traps deployed, we’re ramping up! For more detailed information on the Long Bay Predator Free project / Predator Halo see https://longbay.nz/predator-halo.
Imagine: A Restored and Regenerating Vaughans Stream Corridor!
Imagining what might be possible in terms of restoring the Vaughan’s Stream corridor was at the heart of a well-attended Walk and Talk event on Sunday 30th March. The event which was co-hosted by Restore Hibiscus and Bays (RHB) and the Long Bay Residents’ Association was set up as a relaxed way to inform people about what might be possible in terms of clearing pest plants, planting native bush to complement the existing planting and making the stream into a thriving ecosystem.
The combination of the expertise of Deborah Colson from RHB and the interest of the attendees, meant lots of information on plant identification was shared and discussed and there was even a bit of impromptu weed bashing. People also took the time to have conversations with people they didn’t know and ask broader questions about what might be possible and discuss how we can make things happen. In that vein, the walk ended with an invitation to get involved with the first stage which will be clearing the pest plants. This will begin on Sunday 20th April, 10am – 12 noon. If you want to join the Vaughans Stream Team working bee please meet across the road from the Long Bay Surf Club. If you can’t go along to this one, there will be more so email your name and mobile number to longbayra@gmail.com saying you are interested in helping with the Vaughan’s Stream project, and we’ll add you to our WhatsApp group for communications, or you can join via scanning the invite QR Code (see image), or by visiting the invite link at https://bit.ly/lbvsteam.
Vaughans Road Closure Update
In February we provided a longer update on our website relating to AT’s December information about the ongoing Auckland Transport plans for Vaughans Road.
The plan focuses on five areas of localised widening to meet a restricted budget of $2 million. Internal consultation on the plans is due by March 2025, which we’re awaiting details of. Community consultation is due to take place around July 2025. The goal is for the budget to be available July 2025 – 2026 for construction, dependent on consultation feedback and other aspects. The road will be closed until construction is complete. For the full post please see:
https://longbay.nz/vaughans-road-closure-february-2025-update/
LBRA Board Activities:
- Community Safety & Issues:
- Emergency Readiness in Apartments: Information was sent out related to an Auckland Council event on this topic in early February.
- Piripiri Point Undesirable Vehicle Activities: see Protect Our Community above.
- Parking: Issues related to parking communicated including illegal carparking
- Overhanging Trees: A job has been logged and is in progress for Te Oneroa Way
- Pedestrian Safety: We’re working on an information campaign related to pedestrian crossings.
- Maintenance of properties: a number of issues are in play or actioned related to overgrown grass or weeds on public and private properties.
- Rain Garden Damage/Maintenance: Issues have been reported to Auckland Council related to a couple of specific rain gardens.
- Community Engagement & Events:
- Review of Survey and AGM information: we’ve been actioning a number of the ideas collected from our Survey and AGM information from late last year.
- Food Truck Collective in Long Bay on 13th February
- 1 Streamview Way youth park: In February the Streamview Way Park – Youth Park consultation results were presented to the Hibiscus and Bays Local board.
They were supportive of the consultation results and our direction now moving into the concept design.
The project will look to include the following assets, budget dependant (ranked as seen as important by the community) :
1. Active play and sports- 2. Adventure play
- 3. Amenities e.g. Toilets and drinking fountain.
- 4. Wheeled play (Pump track was the preferred typology)
- 5. Relaxing and social spaces to hang out.
Designers will now look to incorporate the components above and other comments and ideas the community have provided. Auckland Council would like to thank the community for the amazing contribution to the project so far, as a lot of ideas and comments were received through the online survey, workshops, and drop-in sessions. Auckland Council will aim to consult on the design in May 2025 after presenting it to the local board.
- Community Clean Up Day: Held a Community Clean Up Day on March 15th. The next one is scheduled for June 21st, meet outside New World 9.30am.
- Auckland Council Annual Plan 2025/2026: we advocated for residents to respond to the “Have Your Say” on the plan.
- Environmental Initiatives:
- Weed Control/Planting: see above re Vaughns Stream Team working bee’s initiated starting 20th April 10am – 12 Noon meet opposite Long Bay Surf Club
- Predator Free NZ: PredatorFreeNZ Funding / Collaboration with RestoreHB is ongoing; First traps have been delivered and work is continuing.
- Sports and Cooking activities: We’ve been coordinating to bring new badminton and cooking events to be available in Long Bay for residents, please get in touch if you’d like to assist.
- Partnerships & Collaboration:
- Restore Hibiscus and Bays: Collaborating on PredatorFreeNZ funding Vaughans Stream initiative.
- Hibiscus and Bays Local Board (HBLB): Ongoing communication with HBLB regarding various community matters, including roads, property related matters.
- Neighbourhood Support North Shore (NSNS): Contact with Neighbourhood Support, with Tanya Svendsen attending our Protect Our Community workshop and publicising the Community Heroes day as part of Safer Week initiative on Sunday, May 4th, from 12:00 to 3:30 PM at Mairangi Bay waterfront.
- Long Bay Village Market: Working with Long Bay Village Market, with LBRA present in Feb, March and looking to hold a LBRA stall in April’s market.
- Long Bay Primary and College: Continued engagement with Long Bay Primary and College including via our LBC student rep on the LBRA Board and volunteers.
- LBRA Governance & Administration:
- Board Meetings: Regular board meetings held, with minutes recorded and actions followed up.
- Sponsorship Packages: We’re reviewing sponsorship options. Please get in touch if your business would like to sponsor LBRA’s activities.
- Local Board Grants: We’re preparing an application for local board grants funding to enable us to increase community engagement and events.
Upcoming Events:
- Restore Hibiscus and Bays Predator Control Workshop at Stredwick Reserve (Bilingual): LBRA will be attending: Saturday 12th April 12 – 2pm
- Vaughans Stream Team Working Bee Sunday 20th April 10am – 12noon meet outside Long Bay Surf Club
- Long Bay Village Market on Sunday 27th April
- LBRA Community Clean Up Day meet outside New World on Saturday 21st June 9.30am
- Monthly LBRA Board meetings – please contact us to speak with us
Community Activities
There are community activities on the calendar and we’re looking at adding more into the mix! Currently we have:
- Walking Group: Saturdays at 7am meet in front of Long Bay Surf Club
- Football: Mondays at 6pm – meet at Ashley Turf, all skills/ages welcome
- Long Bay Mums (and Dads) with Babies or Preschoolers Meetup: Mondays 9.30am at November Eatery/Cafe
- Vaughans Stream Team Working Bees: 3rd Sunday of each month 10-12 meet outside Long Bay Surf Club
- Badminton: in planning – contact us if you’d like to help out
- Community Cleanups: quarterly, usually 2nd Saturday of the month Mar/Jun/Sep/Dec
- Cooking Classes: we’re actively looking for volunteers – reach out if you’re keen.
Please let us know if there are any others and we can add them to our calendar, see our website home page for the calendar.
Please Support LBRA!
Thanks to those people who have provided Donations! Please continue to support us by clicking the Donate button on our website. We appreciate your generosity! This covers operational and event costs. We accept payments via credit card and other methods. Please reply to this email if you would prefer to donate directly to our bank account. Please note that we currently don’t charge any membership or subscription fees, so all donations are greatly appreciated. We’re also seeking sponsors for LBRA. If you’re interested, please reach out or spread the word to businesses.
Regards,
Gareth