The bridesmaid suburb

WHY BIRKENHEAD NEEDS REVISITING
The library is unfinished, buses are disorganised and the shopping centre is old and dated. Parks are not maintained and a long-awaited sewerage upgrade may be deferred for six years. Sorry Birkenhead, it appears you've been shelved. For 13 years, local resident Elaine Gannaway has watched as North Shore City Council has cast aside Birkenhead's priorities. Resources and funds are directed elsewhere. "I do feel like the Birkenhead and Beach Haven area is treated like a poor cousin to the rest of the North Shore," says the mother-of-three. "We are overlooked sometimes. We are easily ignored, and it's a real shame." Another resident, Heather Hunting, feels the same way. "I have lived here for over 20 years. Just as something starts to happen to the library or the shopping centre, something else happens and it all gets forgotten about. "Albany gets their big makeover, Greenhithe gets their motorway, Takapuna gets just about everything they need. So why are we left out?" It's a question North Shore City councillor Tony Holman has been asking for nine years. In his opinion, the Harbour ward has not had strong enough representation on the council to fight for resources and attention. "At the end of 2006, I did an analysis on how much would be spent for the next three years in the Harbour ward, and I discovered it was approximately $486,000," he says. "It sounds like a bit of money but it's nothing when you compare it to the other two wards, which get more than $19 million between them. "I took this to the council parks officers and things were improved. There's now about $5 million for the Harbour ward parks, but it could have been more." The overburdened sewerage system from Hillcrest to Beach Haven is another improvement which could be deferred, as the council decides whether to redirect money to the Rosedale plant, a $100 million scheme to build a new outfall in Albany. The Birkenhead Library saga is held up in the Environment Court, buses don't cross the suburb frequently and a long-awaited revamp of the shopping area is . . . well, still awaited. "I remember the area was quite glitzy, new and nice when I first moved here," says Mrs Gannaway. "Now it just looks dated and tired and we're all waiting for a revamp of the area, but it's just talk at the moment. "The bus routes are hopeless. Outside rush-hour times, if you miss a bus you're pretty much stuffed for an hour until the next one comes along." Birkenhead-Northcote community board chairwoman Jennifer Yorke says they are not always told how much council officials are spending on projects, so there's not a lot they can do to speed things up. "We do have money to spend ourselves, but it's not very much and it normally takes two or three years for things to come to fruition," she says. "The area might be treated like the poor cousin, but it depends what you're talking about." Warwick Jones, of the Birkenhead Residents Association, and Cr Holman feel the community board is not up to scratch: "I don't believe the community board always acts in a way that is of the best interest to the rest of the community."