Bill Burrill: How to pay for Auckland's wide open spaces

COMMENT

Tune into or read any media these days and the voices are everywhere demanding more public open space, that existing open spaces remain in public ownership, and public access to the coast.

Talk to Aucklanders who visit overseas cities and those they enjoy the most are often the ones that have got it right with public open space: Melbourne and San Francisco, for example.

The consistent message is people care about public open space and they want more of it. The question is who should fund it and how?

There is no doubt that in Auckland, public open space - from the Westhaven Marina in the heart of the city to the wilderness of Hunua Range Regional Park - is a major contributor to the quality of life.

For this to continue, there must be an investment in more public open space, an investment in Auckland's future.

Auckland's Regional Growth Forum has made it well known that the region's population is expected to swell to 2 million by 2050.

Auckland's housing styles are diversifying and many people are embracing the lifestyle offered by apartments, townhouses and other more intensive developments.

To forgo a traditional backyard in return for a low-maintenance home in a handy location with access to public transport is a choice made easier for many people by the fact that they can rely on access to high-quality, recreational open space throughout the region.

Housing intensification is the way of the future for Auckland and with it comes not merely the desire but an absolute need for more public open space. So who should provide it and who should be responsible for making the investment?

City and district councils, the Department of Conservation and the Auckland Regional Council all have a role to play. City and district councils generally provide smaller parks, often to cater for structured recreation (for example, sports fields and playgrounds), while the Department of Conservation's main role is to manage and provide public access to the country's conservation estate.

The regional council manages 21 regional parks, including the Auckland Regional Botanic Gardens and Ericsson Stadium (Mt Smart Domain).

The busiest of these - the Long Bay Regional Park and the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park - each cater for well over a million visitors a year. The number of visitors to coastal parks, in particular, is increasing; last summer was the busiest on record for many.

Visitors say they value what regional parks provide. Among other things, they like the access to the coast (demand for coastal campsites in regional parks is increasing as booming property prices see private campgrounds sold off), to areas of natural and cultural heritage, and they value the contribution of regional parks to their sense of well-bring.

While most of the visits to regional parks every year are for recreation, the parks have vital roles in conservation and education (more than 28,000 schoolchildren every year participate in education programmes there as part of their curriculum), and will become increasingly important for health and well-being in the face of the childhood obesity epidemic.

The regional council is committed to buying more public open space and playing its part in Aucklanders' quality of life. It has an acquisition strategy and is committed to bringing more open space into public ownership in the form of regional parks.

In previous years, the regional council has used reserve funds and taken out loans to buy parkland. The reserves are now dry, and the question Aucklanders are being asked is how they want to fund future park purchases.

The question is, are you prepared to pay a flat charge of $10 per ratepayer to fund more regional parks? The suggestion is that this money would go into a fund and be used solely to buy more public open space.

Legally, it would not be able to be touched for any other purpose. Effectively, it would mean a rate increase this year, but the flat charge would remain at the same level in subsequent years.

This option would allow the regional council to take opportunities to buy land as they arise without incurring large debts on behalf of ratepayers.

The alternative is to loan-fund the purchase of more parkland as it becomes available. For ratepayers, this would mean no $10 charge this year but the potential for smaller but ongoing rate increases to service loans as land is bought, leading to a higher price paid for more park land over time.

Doing nothing is not an option. We know Aucklanders love their open spaces. We are committed to providing more. The message to Aucklanders is simply this - tell us how you want them funded.

* Bill Burrill chairs the Auckland Regional Council's parks and heritage committee, and is the deputy chairman of the Hauraki Gulf Forum.