News

Howick whare case due for court hearing

• Howick and Pakuranga Times

YET another attempt to stop the Manukau City Council rebuilding the whare at Howick’s Garden of Memories, Uxbridge Rd, was due to get underway this week at the Environment Court.

The Howick Citizens and Ratepayers Association (HCR) is asking the court to rule that the council adhere to the conditions of Emelia Maud Nixon’s will, in which she bequeathed the Garden of Memories to the Howick Borough Council in 1962.

The ratepayers are arguing that the proposed new building would be out of character for the garden and would be contrary to the intent of Miss Nixon’s will and the council’s management plan for the reserve.

“The association believes it has a strong case, although the council is using the full might of its ratepayer funded legal resources and has brought all the big guns to take us on,” says association secretary Russell Wylie, who is leading the case against the council.

“The association has always been open to a compromise that would avoid expensive court action.”

But a compromise that would protect the character of the garden and allow a rebuild of the whare was rejected by council officers at a mediation conference last April, he says. Mr Wylie and association chairman Jim Donald met the council again but to no avail.

Three years ago the council voted in favour of rebuilding the whare, which had been destroyed by fire in October 2004.

The following financial year (2006) the council’s community development committee approved $302,000 for the project.

Together with $166,000 insurance and a $170,000 grant from the ASB Community Trust, the total cost was to have been $638,000.

Councillors rejected the Howick Community Board’s request for the city to commission an independent study into less ambitious repair options.

Council officers recommended the rebuilding option on the grounds that it would add 34sq m of building area, eradicate a smoke smell, add to fire safety, expand the building’s use, meet OSH requirements while minimising maintenance costs.

At a resource consent hearing in August last year, former High Court Judge Peter Salmon ruled in the council’s favour. He said the proposed building would meet the objectives of the garden’s management plan better than the building it would replace.

But HCR, which wants the original building repaired, appealed against the council’s decision to rebuild. It believes a new building would be more expensive and out of character with the intent of Mrs Nixon’s will.

It also argues that the council decision contravenes the Reserve Management Plan that says no new buildings be put on the land.

The garden was developed as a memorial to Ngai Tai who settled in Howick in pre-European times.

The whare was initially built in 1932 and was in use for more than 70 years.

It was demolished in the late 1980s after having fallen victim to vandalism and continuing deterioration. In 1990 the present whare was built but it remains unused after damage from the 2004 blaze.

It’s estimated that more than 10,000 people a year have used the whare through a variety of programmes, including Maori history, protocol, arts and crafts, bush lore, language and Maori medicine.