Manurewa-Papakura ward councillor Angela Dalton has added a role as Eke Panuku Development Auckland link to her workload.
Eke Panuku is the council-controlled organisation charged with delivering urban regeneration in Auckland.
“It works in many areas, including in my own ward and with our neighbours in Manukau and Franklin,” Cr Dalton says.
“Eke Panuku is involved in some long-term projects but also with smaller projects designed to meet the needs of the city’s growth, including in providing more affordable homes.
“It’s an exciting opportunity to work alongside people with a vision for the city that isn’t about right now, but about long into the future. It’s also about creating sustainable communities and enhancing not only our built environment, but the overall environment.”
In charge of council’s land and buildings, a portfolio that runs to billions, she says its purchase of 7.6 hectares of land around the Manukau Super Clinic for the Puhinui Stream regeneration programme is an example of its good work in the south.
“As the only land along the stream not publicly accessible, buying it to guarantee restorative work in a largely urbanised catchment that flows into the Manukau, is visionary. Had that land not been secured, a once in a lifetime opportunity would have been lost.”
Over time, the land will form part of a three-kilometre connection along the Puhinui from the Botanic Gardens to Hayman Park in Manukau.
Dalton has been flat out dealing with the fallout of this year’s weather disasters, which have left people homeless, displaced others, and caused millions of dollars in damage.
As Planning, Environment and Parks committee deputy, she says communities are desperate to get their assets back and council staff continue to focus on cleaning up areas where there are still public safety risks.
“We are trying to get minor repairs completed quickly but there are a lot of them.”
She says communities have shown immense patience. “We all want to get our parks, tracks and playgrounds operating again.”
More than 1,000 damage reports have been made across the city, more than 300 of those for slips on council land, and its estimated more than 1,300assets have been damaged, with repair costs expected to be as high as $55 million.
But Dalton says more than 500 jobs have been completed, mainly clean-ups, access restoration, minor repairs and flooding damage.
“The recovery process will take time, but we are making progress.”
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