Prayers answered at Ahipara

Ahipara kaumātua flats residents Ataroa Hadfield, Kevin Mare, Rev Eru Ihaka Harawira and Pat McPherson have finally got the gates they have been asking for. Photo / Peter Jackson

Prayers were answered at Ahipara last week, the Far North District Council installing a set of pipe gates at the Takahe St entrance to the kaumātua flats, which the residents hope will put an end to a decade of thieves breaking into their cars.

The gates weren't quite finished on Friday afternoon, but they were there a week earlier than the council had expected the job to be done by, while solar-powered security lighting had earlier been installed at the rear of the complex.

Resident resident Eru Ihaka Harawira said he had been praying - "There have been a lot of karakia" - morning and night, and not only in the hope of divine intervention with the council, but more importantly for the community's young people, some of whom are the prime suspects for the ongoing problems with ne'er do wells.

He now felt a little more secure than he had in the past, and was smiling as broadly as fellow residents Ataroa Hadfield, Kevin Mare and Pat McPherson, who initially approached the Northland Age (Persistent thieves target Ahipara's kaumātua flats, September 21) to air her frustration.

Council chief executive Shaun Clarke told the Northland Age last week that the issue had been well raised, and was being dealt with.

"We can have 300 jobs like this from all over the district on our hands at any given time, and this one is well in hand," he said.