Panmure’s new transport interchange, due to open in January 2014, is intended to make commuting a more seamless experience. The new bus and train station, which will be the gateway to a high frequency busway, is a significant step towards improving transport connections for Auckland’s eastern suburbs.

The interchange, which is part of the Auckland Manukau Eastern Transport Initiative (AMETI), will be officially opened with a community event at 11a.m., Saturday, 18 January 2014.

It is the first stage of the Southeastern Busway between Panmure, Pakuranga and Botany. The next stage will see the creation of the busway lanes along Lagoon Drive and Pakuranga Rd to a new bus station at Pakuranga town centre.

The busway will offer passengers faster and more reliable travel times by removing buses from congestion. It will better connect people in the area to trains to the city and the south.

Features include a new central pedestrian plaza linking both sides of the rail tracks, two lifts, escalators to both platforms and four sets of stairs at the main access points. Ticket machines will be installed on both platforms with a staffed ticket office on the ground floor.

The next stage of the project will unlock further benefits for transport in the area once the Panmure roundabout is removed and a busway from Panmure to Pakuranga town centre is built.

The Oceania Football Federation (the New Zealand Division of FIFA) is to build a multi-sports complex with artificial fields and an indoor arena in return for a 30-year lease on reserve land on a site on Ngahue Reserve. This adjoins Stonefields between the Tennis Auckland Centre in Merton Rd, the Auckland Netball Centre and Colin Maiden Park.

The pitches – one of them to be international standard – will be available for community use up to 75% of the time when not needed by Oceania.

The site is an old landfill, which currently is overgrown and covered with exotic weeds. It will be landscaped by Oceania as it develops two artificial playing turfs, a practice turf and buildings for futsal, changing rooms and administration.

The staged development of the complex over five years is estimated to give a community benefit of $15 million without costing the Auckland ratepayer anything.

Comment from Robert Scott, SRA Council/Developer Sub-committee member
There have been many comments about insufficient on-street car parks and the original number of parking bays that were provided by the developer/Council. A number of these bays have been lost due to driveways to individual properties being placed across these areas. In addition, there have been changes in the Master Plan, such as including additional dwellings, without increasing the provision of additional on-street parking.

The issue of on-street car parking is a vexed one and obviously many residents have strong opinions about this. However, whether we like it or not, the Council decided to implement wide landscaped street berms and narrower vehicle carriageways when it initially zoned the land, and this is a part of the streetscape and urban form that eventuated in Stonefields.

The road design was a conscious decision by the Council to introduce a different urban design pattern to road networks with a focus on a more park-like road environment and promoting slower vehicle speeds. Coupled with this was a deliberate decision to include rules that required development to be set back to encourage off-street car parking within properties. It is worth noting that this approach to urban design is being repeated and implemented in other new residential subdivisions in the Auckland region.

On-street car parking was provided within the landscaped berms at a ratio of approximately 1 space per 5 dwellings. Generally people like the provision of landscaped berms and do not generally want them to be replaced with more on-street parking, especially when residents are choosing to park their cars on the street rather than in the garages on their property. However, I am not opposed (nor is the SRA) to more on-street parking in areas where mostly terrace houses are built and the ability to park off-street is less available. As a residents group we are looking for opportunities where we can work with the Council to increase these off-street spaces.

It is important to note that the responsibility of providing more car parking spaces on the street does not rest with Todds, the developer. The road was vested with the Council several years ago (when subdivision first took place) and as such the problem now lies with the Auckland Council (being Auckland Transport who is the owner of the land and the roading control agency). All the roads are now formed and fully vested. We are aw are that the configuration of the on-street parking spaces does not align perfectly with the lot distribution in Stonefields and as a result, several off-street parks are actually formed over driveways. The SRA is currently raising this with Todd Property and the Council, as there is a “deficit” in the number of spaces that can be used as a result (we estimate at least 30 spaces). As an Association we agree that those on-street parking spaces lost to driveways should be replaced and that the Council should undertake this work.

With regard to apartment developments, we plan to keep an eye on all new developments to ensure that adequate off-street parking is provided, for both visitors and residents.

We are also supportive of the Council’s new public transport initiative, which will soon see more regular train services (we understand that these involve 15 minute services to the City) and similar feeder services by bus. Obviously this will take time but we think it is step in the right direction.

Have you ever wondered why your neighbour’s alarm repeatedly goes off when they’re out? For residents of Stonefields we may have the answer. It turns out that the basic alarm installed in many of our homes can be set off by our pets. This is because the installed sensors are not pet ‘friendly’.

The fix for this is relatively simple and involves an installer replacing sensors with pet friendly versions. If your pet(s) have free roam of the whole house then all your sensors will need to be changed. If however your pet is confined to one room (e.g. the garage), then only one sensor will need to be changed. There is of course a cost involved for doing this and the one sensor garage option is obviously the least expensive.

Hopefully this information will not only be helpful to people but also reduce the amount of false and therefore ignored alarms in our neighbourhood!

A resident was concerned about a swan in the wetlands – while he appeared OK in the water, he seemed to be in some considerable discomfort when on land. The resident contacted the SPCA and Bird Rescue and was informed about a condition called Angel Wing caused by feeding swans (and ducks) white bread. The SPCA knows about the swan but as it has a mate they are reluctant to disturb him. To find out more about Angel Wing read this article on the BBC’s website:

//news.bbc.co.uk/local/coventry/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_9124000/9124132.stm