Mt Albert electorate MP Helen White has met with MCERT officials to share her concerns about the state of Building One. She is considering drafting a members’ bill to make it an obligation for owners or managers of heritage buildings to protect them from neglect. “What is not acceptable is...
The Tree Council is calling on the public to contact their local MP and ask them to vote against the Planning Bill and Natural Environment Bill when it goes for its third reading in a couple of weeks’ time. The protection of urban trees, other than notable trees with historic...
Throughout the year, Auckland Council and its community partners plant hundreds of thousands of native plants to protect and restore our waterways. A new trial on the North Shore in Wairau Valley is testing a Swiss-engineered technology to reduce sediment from stormwater ponds. It aims to lower carbon emissions and has the...
Remuera Library was built in 1926, in the Neo-Georgian Classical style of architecture, and opened to the public on the 31 July that year. The photo was taken a few years after it was opened. The library’s 100th birthday was celebrated on 25 July with speeches, cake, balloons, live music,...
The 2026 Tāmaki Makaurau Zero Waste Awards, held on 6 August, recognised Aucklanders doing the practical, everyday work of zero waste: rescuing materials, restoring taonga, and finding new uses for what would otherwise go to landfill. The awards honoured outstanding contributions to zero waste initiatives from people right across Auckland....
Auckland Council is justifiably proud of the upgraded streets, lanes and squares in the city centre. The City Rail Link, the midtown regeneration, Karangahape Road upgrade and downtown programme are among the big drivers of positive change in the city centre, alongside the private sector. Six projects have transformed the...
A detailed and well illustrated article about the former Carrington Hospital building, which continues to deteriorate, was published on 10 August by RNZ. That article is here. Protestors continue to gather in front of the building from 11am to midday on Saturdays, highlighting the lack of protection for the building....
More than 30% of what’s put in Auckland’s recycling bins ends up in landfill because it’s contaminated or can’t be recycled in the first place. That’s costing ratepayers $3.5 million a year and preventing valuable materials from being turned into new products. As part of Auckland Council’s Let’s sort it...
Parliament’s Environment Select Committee released its report on 20 July on the Natural Environment Bill and Planning Bill. EDS Reform Director Dr Greg Severinsen says the committee’s recommendations will make the Bills even worse. “Councils will still have to give compensation to landowners when certain public interest protections are imposed,...
Auckland Council’s Waste Minimisation and Innovation Fund (WMIF) is back, with $500,000 available to support projects that reduce waste and help build a circular economy in Tāmaki Makaurau. Applications open from 1 to 31 August, with grants ranging from $1,000 to $50,000. Previous WMIF projects: Ae Ka Taea e Koe...