$43.7 million spent purchasing new parks and open space

A report presented to Auckland Council’s Environment and Community Committee today outlines the $43.7 million council spent purchasing new parks and open space for Aucklanders in the previous financial year.

The council spent $29.7 million on 13 new parks and open space areas totalling around 9.5 hectares. An additional $14 million was spent completing the purchase of sports fields at Hobsonville and a progress payment at Monte Cecilia Park.

As well as purchasing new parkland, the council gained six new parks and open space areas at no capital cost to ratepayers. This includes a significant gift from Ngāti Manuhiri of 180 hectares of land at Te Arai South.

Today the Environment and Community Committee agreed to formally recognise the bequest with a formal ceremony to acknowledge the exceptional gift made by Ngāti Manuhiri.

Disposal of land

The council also chose to dispose of a small number of non-service parks and open space areas.

The chairperson of the Environment and Community Committee, Councillor Penny Hulse, stresses that the amount of open space that the council has disposed of is a tiny fraction compared to parks and open space land that has been acquired in the same time period.

“The open space land that the council disposed of in the previous financial year equates to 0.1 per cent of the total land area that we acquired,” says Councillor Hulse.

The council was paid around $1.2 million for land disposed of in 2017/18.

How will new open space be developed?

It is the role of local boards to decide how local parks and open spaces will be developed. They also have responsibility for maintaining new local parks.

Open space acquisitions settled in 2017/18

2 Settlement payment made to complete the purchase of sports fields at Hobsonville.

3 Four pocket parks totalling 5879m2

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