Regional Water Quality presentation: Te Awarua-o-Porirua Whaitua committee

/ / Consultation, Meeting, Water Quality / ,

Te Awarua-o-Porirua Whaitua committee members will present what they have been doing to enable sound decisions around improving water quality in our streams and harbour.

Tuesday 16 October, 7pm (event, ical)
Mungavin Hall, 27 Mungavin Ave, Ranui Heights, Porirua  (map)

The Ministry for the Environment’s National Policy Statement for freshwater management requires regional councils to set limits and meet national bottom lines for water quality and quantity. The Greater Wellington Regional Council selected Whaitua Committees as the advisory bodies, and community-led collaboration as the method for developing these policies.

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Regional Water Quality presentation: Te Awarua-o-Porirua Whaitua committee

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Te Awarua-o-Porirua Whaitua committee members will present what they have been doing to enable sound decisions around improving water quality in our streams and harbour.

The Ministry for the Environment’s National Policy Statement for freshwater management requires regional councils to set limits and meet national bottom lines for water quality and quantity. The Greater Wellington Regional Council selected Whaitua Committees as the advisory bodies, and community-led collaboration as the method for developing these policies.

Regional Water Quality presentation: Te Awarua-o-Porirua Whaitua committee Read More »

Residents’ Association 2018 AGM

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This year’s Annual General Meeting will be at the Pukerua Bay School and Community Hall.

Highlights and presentations on:

  • Predator Free Pukerua Bay – past successes and plans for next year
  • Friends of Taupo Swamp and Catchment – a newly-formed community group to enhance and protect one of New Zealand’s last remaining outstanding wetlands on our back door
  • Guardians of Kapiti Marine Reserve, and Sustainable Coastlines
  • The Community Hub and its ‘social connectedness’ project
  • The community garden and food forest is now a living thing and will continue to grow in the next few years
  • Updates on the Residents Association’s other activities this year
  • Order your 2019 Pukerua Bay heritage calendar
  • Elect the committee – volunteers welcome. Contact Iain MacLean 239 9237 / 027 420 3056or iain@maclean.name if you’re interested

All PKB residents are members of the Association. Come and have your say, and raise any issues you want discussed.

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October 2018 Residents’ Association meeting

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Please refer to the September meeting minutes. Agenda as follows:

Welcome

Apologies – Jonathan, Kate

Approval of previous minutes

Matters arising from previous minutes

Financial report

Correspondence

AGM in October – planning update and arrangements

Community/School hall ―update

SH1/Wairaka Rd garden – NZTA dealings and community frustration

PCC report and update on projects

Other business

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Coastal erosion workshop

/ / Consultation, Erosion

We had an interesting session this afternoon with coastal researchers, Jim Dahm and Bronwen Gibberd, who are working for Porirua City Council to get information about coastal hazards and erosion, and starting to prepare long-term plans to prevent them getting worse.

We had a small turnout (about 10 locals), but they were mostly people who had lived at the beach for many years and could tell the researchers a lot about the beach and how it has changed over the decades. …

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Coastal erosion workshop Read More »

Community garden progressing well

/ / Community Garden, Working Bees

It’s been a busy month in the community garden — we’ve had three working bees and made a lot of progress.

Today we finished the first phase of planting in the garden for this year. So far, we have:

  • planted feijoa trees between part of the garden and the neighbours as a screen that will also produce delicious fruit
  • planted all the fruit trees — apples, pears, nashis and plums
  • planted the support trees around the fruit trees to provide protection and to help fix nitrogen in the soil for plant growth
  • mulched around all the trees to keep down weeds and help the soil retain water over the driest part of the year.

We still have to put in some wind breaks by the trees to protect them from the wind that comes from the northwest, which can be pretty strong at times. Of course, we’ll need to keep the grass down, but we’ve got a scythe and some keen users so we can do it without disturbing the neighbours with noisy machinery. Spring and summer will be busy with making sure the trees are OK, and well watered during the dry season. Fortunately, the council installed a tap for us when they built the access onto the site, so we have a permanent and reliable water supply.

We also have to start planting the smaller support plants, which will help accumulate minerals for the trees and build up the soil health, and we’d also like to get some berry plants in there, too. We’re trying to follow permaculture principles to create an ecosystem that has a wide range of plants, soil biota and insects that all support each other.

It looks like we have got more funding from Porirua City Council under their Village Planning programme again this year, so we’ll be able to do more planting over the next 12 months. We’ll look at establishing a different range of plants from the pipfruit trees we’ve planted so far — perhaps more stone fruit, or maybe some citrus. We can’t wait!

Community garden progressing well Read More »

Coastal hazards and resilience community workshops

/ / Consultation, Erosion

Porirua City Council is running workshops on coastal hazards, which includes the erosion the Pukerua Bay beach is suffering. They sent us the following information. If you’re interested in this, head along to St Marks, Rawhiti Road, Saturday 11 August, 2pm–4pm.

As part of the District Plan review, we [PCC] have engaged the Focus Resource Management Group to help us understand the coastal hazard risk in Porirua.  Principal members Jim Dahm and Bronwen Gibberd have a great deal of experience with the assessment and management of coastal hazards in New Zealand, and a long history of consultation with communities. Utilising their experience and local knowledge from those living next to the coast, we are now seeking to engage with those affected by coastal hazards in Porirua.

We will be running a coastal hazard seminar series to provide information about the coastal hazards and provide opportunity for the community to discuss the work in more detail with coastal hazards experts as well as Council staff. We are keen to talk directly with affected residents, and with other members of the community who have an interest. Through robust research and engagement with the community, we hope to ensure that the District Plan assists in building resilience to our coastal hazards.

Coastal hazards community workshops:

Plimmerton School: Saturday 11 August 10.00am – 12.00pm

St Marks Church Pukerua Bay: Saturday 11 August 2.00pm – 4.00pm

Titahi Bay School: Sunday 12 August 10.00am – 12.00pm

Paremata Boating Club: Sunday 12 August 1.00pm – 3.00pm

Pāuatahanui School: Sunday 12 August 4.00pm – 6.00pm

Local knowledge and views are essential to building a thorough understanding of coastal hazards in Porirua. We are interested in changes anywhere on the Porirua Coast and Harbour. Any information you can provide will be helpful and appreciated including:

  • any observed shoreline changes over the last 50-100 years.
  • how your property or the local coast been affected by erosion or flooding.
  • any old photos, early descriptions, old maps, etc.
  • any information on past coastal storms and their impacts (e.g. photos or observations of erosion damage and sea flooding).
  • people or groups who may have useful information (e.g. long-term residents, local historians).

For more information please see the PCC website – https://poriruacity.govt.nz/your-council/city-planning-and-reporting/district-plan/coastal-hazards/

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August 2018 Residents’ Association meeting

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Refer to the July meeting minutes.

Agenda:

Welcome

Apologies―Pauline Morse, Ann Jebson, Dale Williams, Beccy Davis

Approval of previous minutes

Matters arising from previous minutes

Financial report

Correspondence

PKB pest-free update, Gillian Candler

Community/School hall, update

Celebration of hall’s 45thanniversary

Village Planning funding update, work for the coming year

Update items:

  • He Ara Pukerua, including 2019 calendar
  • Community garden
  • Engine braking
  • Coastal erosion workshop

PCC report and update on projects

Roaming dogs

Access track onto Muri Reserve

Other business

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School reneges on hall partnership

/ / Hall, School

Pukerua Bay School Board of Trustees pulls out of 45-year agreement on local hall

The Pukerua Bay Residents Association is very disappointed that the Pukerua Bay School Board of Trustees (BoT) has decided to pull out of a partnership that saw the school and the community jointly build and then manage our local hall for the past 45 years. …

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School reneges on hall partnership Read More »