Items of current interest

Porirua Harbour and Catchment Strategy and Action Plan

Keith Calder, the Harbour Strategy Coordinator, reports that the draft Porirua Harbour and Catchment Strategy and Action Plan was publicly released for comment at the end of August, and submissions closed at the end of September.

Twenty-three written submissions were received. Six submitters wished to be heard in support of their submission, and a hearing was held on 11 October by a Joint Hearing Committee of delegates from the three councils and the Runanga. Committee members were as follows:

Rawiri Faulkner from Te Runanga o Ngati Toa Rangitara, who also acted as the Chair

Cllr Liz Kelly from Porirua City Council

Cllr Ngaire Best from Wellington City Council

Cllr Barbara Donaldson from Greater Wellington Regional Council

The Joint Committee's report and recommendations are now in the process of being considered by each individual council and the Runanga. PCC Council Committee considered the report on 24 November. The Runanga and other councils' meetings will be held by mid-December. It is hoped that the Strategy can then be finalised and released early in the new year.

With regard to the submissions: seventeen expressed strong support for the Strategy. There were no opposing submissions. Of the remaining submissions, five were about single-issue concerns, and one was simply informational. Many constructive comments were made by submitters, and the Hearing Committee is recommending minor alterations, clarifications and additions that will improve the final document, though tere are no substantive changes.

Copies of the final Strategy will be available when amendments have been included and completed.

Background to the Strategy and Action Plan 

In 2006 Porirua City Council (PCC) for the first time recognised Porirua Harbour as a community asset. Moreover, the council recognised that increased pollution was reducing the value of the harbour as a scenic attraction and for recreation, and thus as an economic resource for the city. Together with the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GW) and local manawhenua Ngati Toa Rangitara, PCC began a programme to identify the issues and devise means of tackling the problems that beset the harbour. To a large extent this programme built on experience gained from research and study since the 1990s in the Pauatahanui Inlet and extended it to the Onepoto Arm. PCC and GW committed significant long-term finance to the project.

It soon became obvious that many of the problems of the harbour resulted from activities in the catchment, with the Porirua Stream being of particular concern. Since most of this stream's catchment is within Wellington city boundaries it was necessary to persuade the Wellington City Council to join the partnership.

The result is a strong commitment from these four stakeholders to attend to the problems in the entire harbour catchment area and to express this commitment in a comprehensive Harbour and Catchment Management Plan that would feature prominently in the Long Term Plans of the three local authorities.

Cheryl Cameron, an award-winning documentary maker, has now finished her very exciting project for the Inlet and wider harbour. Living Waters is a series of documentaries commissioned by the Pauatahanui Inlet Community Trust (PICT). There are twelve episodes, dealing with subjects as diverse as shags, pollution, riparian planting and Ngati Toa's relationship with the harbour. GOPI's educational resources team has started producing units of work to accompany the documentaries as part of the educational resources we are currently developing.

The documentaries were officially launched by Mayor Nick Leggett at Porirua's Festival of the Elements in February 2011. Standing room only and hearty congratulations to Cheryl and photographer Matty Warmington were the order of the day.

You can see all twelve episodes, along with fascinating extra material from the interviews, at: 

http://www.livingwatersdoco.co.nz/

The 2010 cockle survey was held on Sunday 21 November, with over 100 enthusiastic volunteers turning up for the 3-hour task.

This very important Guardians activity is a three-yearly event.

NIWA has now analysed the data and you can read the report here.

AGM 2011

The 2011 AGM was held on 30 June. It was pleasing to see a number of councillors at the meeting. We value the interest and support of our local and regional councils.

Our educational resources are being revised and expanded.  Our popular resource for schools, Pauatahanui Inlet – a living resource, is being revised. We are very pleased to be able to announce that Let's visit the Inlet is available now on this website. We're sure teachers planning Inlet visits will welcome the 11 activity worksheets in Let's visit the Inlet.

We also have an ever-increasing number of worksheets available for class or independent work, some of which are designed to go with the Living Waters documentaries. Teachers should keep checking to see the latest additions.

Longer term, we are also planning community education resources, particularly for those working with refugee and migrant groups. These are exciting projects that we know will be warmly welcomed.

We still have a few copies of Pauatahanui Inlet – a living resource. If you would like one for your school, please contact us on pauainlet@gmail.com.

Inlet Pathway progresses, but slowly.  Porirua City Council's plan to extend the Inlet Pathway Te Ara Piko from Ration Point to Pauatahanui village was approved more than a year ago, but so far only the small section around Ration Point itself has been completed. The next stage will be the boardwalk and bridge over Ration Creek, which the Council would like to do by the end of the year. We understand that construction of the expensive, technically more difficult and environmentally more sensitive section through to the village may take considerably longer.

Meantime the Council is considering how to extend the pathway westward from Motukaraka Point to Camborne. Council expects to start consulting with GOPI and other community groups and interested parties later this year on two important questions related to this section. One is how to graft a safe pathway on to the edge of Grays Road and the other is how to cross the salt marsh at the mouth of the Kakaho stream.