New pools in Auckland 5 years away
City will have to wait for $25m spend on swimming centres, Goff’s budget shows Dead girl’s friend: Think ahead
Aucklanders are calling for more investment in swimming pools, but an extra $25 million is five years away. Auckland mayor Phil Goff’s “buildit” budget contains $26 billion for investment in transport, housing, the environment and other projects.
When it comes to swimming pools, the budget proposal has $25m of new spending, but not until halfway through the 10-year budget.
While a new $27m aquatic centre at Flatbush in South Auckland will begin as soon as practicable, the $25m funds boost will not kick in until 2023.
This will enable a new pool in the northwest by 2028 and a new pool in the inner-west soon after 2028, according to budget documents.
The sites of these two new pools have not been determined, although an indicative business case has recommended an inner-west pool in the Whau area.
Public feedback on the budget expressed “serious concern” about access to the council’s 24 pools and dissatisfaction with over-crowded pools and long wait times in peak periods, such as school holidays.
People were also concerned about this lack of access being a barrier to teaching kids to swim and potentially contributing to more drownings.
Water Safety figures show 22 people drowned in Auckland last year, twice the 2016 total of 11.
The council’s 21 local boards have also been strongly supportive of more investment in swimming pools.
Goff was unavailable to discuss funding for swimming pools, but a spokesman said the budget provided a total of $151m for the Flatbush and inner-west pools.
The mayor has said the budget will deliver the city’s biggest-ever investment in big issues such as transport, housing and the environment. There is no money for a downtown stadium.
He said a stadium is unlikely to be built until the 2030s. Funding could be put in the next 10-year budget, which runs into the 2030s, he said.
The budget, due to be debated and decided by councillors tomorrow, also contains funding for a raft of smaller projects such as $1.4m for a smoke-free policy and $475,000 to the Auckland City Mission to improve its Hobson St property.
Several proposals benefit Ma¯ori groups. The Tu¯puna Maunga Authority, which manages 14 maunga, or volcanic cones, is seeking an extra $23.5m for a programme to restore the tı¯hi (summits), reinstate open space areas, develop tracks and viewing platforms and replace exotic trees and weeds with native trees.
Nga¯ti Wha¯tua ra¯kei Reserves Board is in line for additional funding of $14.3m and To Poari o Kaipa¯tiki ki Kaipara, which oversees the Parakai Recreation Reserve, a further $11.5m to improve the reserve.
The Independent Ma¯ori Statutory Board, whose members sit on council committees but not the governing body, could get $35m more over the 10 years to improve Ma¯ori outcomes, taking its budget from $111m to $146m.
Goff’s budget proposal also reveals $55m of new funding and bringing forward $53m of existing budget for the America’s Cup and Apec leaders conference in 2021 — and a $150m cut in the $1b budget for a 10-year citycentre programme. A friend of a 12-year-old who died during a police pursuit in Palmerston North has a warning for other young people looking to fit in.
“Life is more precious than jumping in a stolen car and trying to be cool and popular. Think about the consequences,” the friend told the
Meadow James was the front-seat passenger of a stolen Subaru that slid into a ditch and hit a power pole near Palmerston North about 1.30pm as the car fled police yesterday.
She was killed at the scene and the 15-year-old driver, Ihaia Maxwell, later died in hospital.
The friend, who is 20 and asked not to be named, said Meadow “had so much potential in her life” and was “too young to go”.
There were concerns that more and more young people were getting involved with reckless activities like getting in stolen cars and trying to evade police, she said.
“They are worried about being cool. It sorta is like that with young children, they are trying to fit in.”
Meadow was a “normal teenager” who was really into socialising.
Another friend of Meadow who also did not want to be named said they had spent time with her only a few times but it “was one of the
Life is more precious than jumping in a stolen car and trying to be cool and popular. Think [of] the consequences. Friend of Meadow James
O¯ best experience we ever had . . . I will cherish all the memories we shared”.
Friends and relatives have shared their grief in emotional tributes posted on social media.
Meadow’s distraught mother, Rachel James, told she was still stunned and there was nothing she could do. “It’s the second time round. I’ve already lost a child.”
Fighting back tears, James said she thought her daughter had gone to her course and it was only when she returned home from work she found out Meadow had got in the car with Ihaia. “I play back what I could have changed.
“I could have done better, but it’s happened and I can’t do anything.
“I don’t blame anyone. I don’t blame the family of the boy who was driving . . . they never wanted for their son to die either.”
Rebecca James said her sister was already beating herself up and did not need the negative comments the family had been receiving on social media about the crash.
District commander Superintendent Sue Schwalger said an officer saw the wanted Subaru being driven on Monrad St. “Police signalled for the vehicle to pull over and the driver failed to stop.
“[It] continued driving, travelling on to Pioneer Highway and crashed into a ditch, hitting a power pole at the intersection of Shirriffs Rd.”
The tragedy comes less than five years after Meadow’s brother, Leif James, died in hauntingly similar circumstances.