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Letters to the Editor

 

 

Do it once, do it right
The proposed roundabout in the Village, when it goes ahead, will naturally affect parking in the surrounding vicinity. It would seem that the best option to alleviate the parking issue would be for the Kaipara council to purchase the land currently occupied by the physiotherapy premises. Removing the house situated there would create sufficient parking for the Four Square, Saturday market, library and for those who use the Library Hall for the various functions that it is let for.

Properly planned it would take pressure off the delivery trucks to the Four Square and could also provide better access to Carters, thus relieving the pressure of the large trucks entering from Molesworth Drive.

The proposed pedestrian crossings, correctly set and marked would ensure that pedestrian safety would be controlled in this busy area at all times.

It is only going to get busier, even outside holiday periods. At times traffic is backed up Insley Street to the school and beyond. It is time to do it once, do it right.

Adrian Skinner
Mangawhai

 

So obvious
There is a huge empty section on the corner of Moir Street and Molesworth Drive, directly opposite both Dune and Carters. Know where I mean? Why can’t KDC purchase this – while it may – and turn it into a carpark to replace the lost spaces with the proposed new roundabout? It seems so obvious!

Tony Stroobant
Mangawhai Village

 

Focus fake news
I was alarmed by the headline in the Focus (Feb 10) ‘Survey supports mangrove management for birdlife’. The article is very selective with its statements and really amounts to fake news.

Mangroves protect shorelines from damaging storm and hurricane winds, waves, and floods. Mangroves also help prevent erosion by stabilising sediments with their tangled root systems. They maintain water quality and clarity, filtering pollutants and trapping sediments originating from land.

As climate change threatens to increase the frequency and severity of storms, mangroves provide a stout defence against storm surge. Mangrove roots also provide habitats for fish and shellfish, crucial to sustainable livelihoods for coastal communities.

University of Waikato researcher Karin Bryan says: “Mangroves are nature’s way of coping with change, whether it is local, such as nutrients running off the Hauraki Gulf from dairying, or global, like increases in sedimentation from the world’s largest rivers. The problem is trying to get people to appreciate the landscape value of mangroves as well as the ecosystem services. Cutting mangroves down will mean that nature will just find another way of coping with the change, which will likely have similar landscape impact.”

Dr Erik Horstman, researcher from the University of Waikato's Coastal Marine Group says mangroves play important roles in North Island estuaries and New Zealand should be conservative about clearing mangroves because they will almost certainly help fight climate change, sea-level rise and coastal inundation.

One final point I would like to make is that using the local school children to clear seedling is an abuse. Educate the school on the true facts not the one sided biased view of the MHRS.

(Abridged)
Philip Scothern

Mangawhai

 

A failed experiment
I thank Kerry O'Malley, Peter Lynne and others who have alerted you to the impact of the Wood Street one way system over the holidays, and agree with their comments.

I live in Findlay Street and attended both public meetings about this experiment. It was made very clear that the Mangawhai Business Association wanted Wood Street turned into a one way system. Their excuse? They did not like the congestion at the intersection of Wood Street and Molesworth Drive, and the lack of parking.

Everyone agreed that parking was an issue. The extra parking made in Fagan Street was a very good start, although the signage needs improving, and when an exit through the old fire station is made it will be great. There the experiment ends.

I took photographs which show the roped off pedestrian area in Ellen Street with "No Parking" was ignored. Vehicles drove onto the Council grass verge in between the roped off areas, cars, trailers, camper vans all parked on the "No Parking" side of Ellen Street, and with vehicles parking on both sides of Ellen Street, it was turned into a one way street.

The grassed pedestrian area was useless for push chairs, skate boarders, cyclists and it is uneven for the elderly. So we used the main road. There were no bike stands seen in Wood Street as promised.

The chaos at the intersection of Ellen Street and Findlay Street shows, pedestrians trying to cross the road, traffic trying to exit from Ellen into Findlay Street, and traffic trying to turn into Ellen Street from Findlay Street.

Findlay Street is a narrow, residential street, used by pedestrians, skate boarders, cyclists, walkers and families. It is not built for or capable of being used for commercial purposes.

We had vehicles parking on both sides of the street right down to Albert Street, turning our street into a one way street. At the intersection of Findlay Street and Molesworth Drive the Traffic banked up into Findlay Street with traffic trying to exit both ways into Molesworth Drive. Residents, whose driveways are lower than the road in Findlay Street, found trying to get out of their driveways dangerous, as visibility was reduced by the parked cars, and traffic banking up. Not only have we had to contend with the unsafe traffic chaos, we have also had the noise of vehicles accelerating along Findlay Road.

Pedestrians won out by being able to meander all over Wood Street. The experiment has inconvenienced those in Fagan Place, anyone needing to access their doctor, the petrol station, the Four Square and the pharmacy shopping area. All those customers had to access Wood Street by turning up into Ellen Street, then into Findlay Street, turn right into Molesworth Drive and then right into Wood Street. This of course increased the traffic in Molesworth Drive trying to turn into Wood Street. I have also heard that some businesses have been financially impacted.

The result that all the traffic problems in Wood Street would be shifted into the residential Ellen Street and Findlay Streets was shrugged off by the Businesses who wanted the scheme to go ahead. The Mangawhai Business Association need to address their concerns about traffic management within Wood Street. They might also like to reflect on the loyalty of the residents who live in Findlay Street who support them throughout the year, going elsewhere if this is going to continue. Such loyalty is hard won and easily lost.

Beverley Revell
Mangawhai Heads


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