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Last updated
March 9th, 2010
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Home > News Archive 2002 |
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links below to archived news items on Helensville and the
surrounding area.
2002 Articles
(Nov 30th, '02)
(Nov 30th, '02)
(Nov 30th, '02)
(Nov 30th, '02)
(Nov 25th, '02)
(Nov
8th, '02)
(Nov 8th, '02)
(Oct 21st, '02)
(Oct
2nd, '02)
(Aug 23rd, '02)
(Aug 17th, '02)
(July 29th, '02)
(July 11th, '02)
(June
28th, '02)
(May 1st, '02)
(May 1st, '02)
(April 20th, '02)
(April 5th, '02)
(April 4, '02)
(March 1, '02)
(Feb 24, '02)
(Feb 9, '02)
(Jan 18, '02)
(Jan 18, '02)
(Jan 18, '02)
Click here for more recent news articles
2001 Articles
2003 Articles
2004 Articles
2005 Articles
2006
Articles
2007
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2008
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2009
Articles
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Youth
club opens in Helensville (November 30th, '02)
A youth club offering
a wide range of activities for youth aged 12 to 17 opened in Helensville
yesterday.
The Te Awaroa Youth Club is based at 10 Awaroa
Road is open Monday to Friday from 3pm to 6pm, with an earlier opening
time of 9am during school holiday periods.
Activities and facilities include arts, crafts and
music rooms, a gymnasium, library, computer studies, pool tables,
table tennis and skateboarding.
Programmes on offer will include Maori language
and customs, a secure monthly disco, job seeking education, boxing
classes, gardening and design projects, a DJ programme and various
community-based projects. Day trips during holidays to the Auckland
Art Gallery and the Museum of Technology are other possibilities.
The boxing classe will run from 7pm to 8:30pm on Tuesday and Thursday
evenings, and participants will be required to register.
Donations of $1 per hour will be asked for, although
other options are available for youth unable to afford this.
The aim of the club is to provide a safe and
stimulating environment for youth to learn and develop new skills,
and to help them become responsible adults.
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Helensville
wins in council grants (November
30th, '02)
Helensville community
groups did well out of the latest round of Rodney District Council
community grants. Among those receiving grants were:
- The Helensville Business Association - $3300 for installation
of 30 banners to hand from street light poles announcing events
during summer;
- The Helensville Women's Resource Centre - $2500 toward a paid
supervisor for volunteers and a library resource;
- The Helensville Community Toy Library - $1000 toward a safe
storage cupboard with shelving;
- The Helenvsille and District Historical Society - $761 for copying
and indexing the James Hand diaries;
- The Te Awaroa Youth Club Trust - $1800 toward establishing a
music room and running a disco;
- Royal NZ Plunket Society - $915 toward an upgrade of the Helensville
Plunket clinic.
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Women's
Centre nine years old (November
30th, '02)
Helensville's Women's
Centre celebrated its 9th birthday lasts week.
The centre provides services for local women
including home-based support, parenting skills, community resources
and simply being a listening post.
As a birthday present the centre commissioned
a stone sculpture from local artist Dianne McGarvey called Awaroa,
and based on the centre's logo. |
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Fast internet
access arrives (November 30th, '02)
Helensville has
joined the growing list of towns in New Zealand with fast internet
access on offer.
Telcom has upgraded the local telephone exchange to
make it Jetstream capable. That means 1463 business and residential
lines in Helensville will be able to receive the speedy broadband
Jetstream service, or its slower Jetstart sibling. |
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Rodney
libraries go online (November
25th, '02)
Helensville residents
can now search for library books online.
Rodney District Council has put a website
for the district's libraries online at www.rodneylibraries.govt.nz.
The site provides basic contact information for each of the seven
council-run libraries, but more importantly links to the libraries
vast catalogue of books.
Users can search for books by author or title,
or by subject matter or keywords. By logging in they can put books
on hold, and also check details such as books they have currently
issued and any fines owing.
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Skate
Park to open soon (November 8th, '02)
Helensville's $100,000
skateboard park is set to open on Saturday, November 16 if all goes
according to plans.
The 20m by 40m facility, at Rautawiri Park, will be
a huge draw for young locals. Features include four banks, a set
of stairs, a long ramp, a huge bowl, four 'fun boxes' and a grinding
rail.
Plans for the park were developed from drawings
made by students at Kaipara College and Helensville Primary. It
is the largest such facility in Rodney District. |
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Mayor and
councillors honorary members (November
8th, '02)
Rodney Mayor John
Law and the western ward councillors have been made honorary members
of the Helensville and District Historical Society.
At the special ceremony on Tuesday, November 5th Mr
Law said museums give people "a tangible sense of history",
adding the Helensville Pioneer Museum helps people feel they belong
to the community.
Museum plans for the 'big shift' to the new Riverside
Reserve site are progressing well, with the first building - the
Centennial Hall - due to be moved to the site shortly.
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Arts
Centre opens in Helensville (October 21st, '02)
An Arts Enterprise Centre
has been opened in the main road of Helensville by Rodney Mayor
John Law.
Around 50 people attended the opening, which
is the first step in Mr Law's aim to turn Helensville into an arts
and antiques mecca. Called Artspace, the centre in the premises
of Helensville Copy and Print.
There are 35 artists in the Helensville-Parakai-South
Head area who are interested in the centre, and 24 have got together
in a council-supported group known as Art Kaipara.
The Artspace centre plans to contribute to employment
and wealth creation in the district through tourism, education and
training. |
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Museum
on move at last (October 2nd, '02)
The first building in
Helensville's new Pioneer Village should be moved on to its Riverside
Reserve site before Christmas.
A $50,000 grant from the Lotteries Commission means
the Historical Society is able to bring forward moving the Centennial
Hall, the first stage of the village.
Two further buildings will be moved to the site,
probably next February or March.
The hefty grant, which the society only learnt
about last week, will also ease financial pressure caused by council
requirements regarding special foundations.
Because the buildings are being sited close to Helensville's
former landfill, the council is concerned about gas emission safety
standards. Consequently the society must provide adequate ventilation
under all the buildings it moves to the site, and a special membrane
has to be placed between the earth and the foundations.
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Teenadders
moves into Helensville (August 23rd, '02)
A Teenadders office
- providing support for young people suffering from Attention Deficit
Disorder (ADD) - has been set up in Helensville.
Funding from the Community Organisation Grant
Scheme has enabled the office and a family support worker to be
based in the Helensville Women's Centre in Commercial Road.
Previously, all Teenadders were covered by an
Orewa office. In the six years the organisation has operated in
Rodney more than 180 11-20-year-olds have been helped.
Helensville office support worker Mette Hansen-Reid
will provide support from the Women's Centre on Mondays, and will
work with young people Tuesday to Friday doing home visits and meeting
with agencies and schools. |
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Pioneer
Village gets green light (August
17th, '02)
It looks likely
the first buildings in Helensville's Pioneer Village will move on
to their Riverside Reserve site during the coming summer - a year
later than originally hoped.
Rodney District Council finally approved the
Society's resource consent on August 8, conditional on the buildings
being painted and finished within six months of being resited.
A planting plan and maintenance programme must
also be developed within the next three months. Engineering plans
are in the process of being finalised.
The Helensville and District Historical Society
had initially hoped to begin moving its buildings last summer, but
hadn't bargained on the lengthy process of obtaining resource consents
and permits.
The Society hopes to begin soon on service trenches
for sewerage, stormwater, power, communications and security, and
construction of concrete 'floating' foundations.
The first building likely to be moved will be
the 140-year-old centennial building, in storage now for more than
two years.
The existing museum building and adjacent old
town courthouse will also be moved to the site. The addition of
the centennial building will greatly increase the room the museum
has available for displays, as well as providing amenities such
as toilets and a kitchen.
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John Key
is new Helensville MP (July 29th, '02)
National candidate
John Key won the new Helensville electorate at the General Election
on Saturday, July 27.
His 1589 vote winning margin put him handily
ahead of his nearest rivals, Labour's Gary William and sitting MP
Brian Neeson.
Mr Key, a retired 41-year-old merchant banker,
ousted Mr Neeson during the party selection process in March. Mr
Neeson stood as an independent at the election.
There was some controversy surrounding Mr Key's
selection as he does not live in the electorate. Although he has
purchased a house in the area, he is currently building a $5 million-plus
home in Parnell, where he intends to live most of the time he is
not in Wellington. |
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Helensville
has honest (bad) drivers (July
11th, '02)
Helensville and
Parakai drivers are being surprisingly honest in a survey where
they are asked to detail their bad driving habits.
Part of a joint Rodney District Council and Accident
Compensation Corporation campaign, the survey asks drivers how often
they drive over the speed limit, when they are most likely to speed,
and how seriously they takae the risk of being caught while speeding.
Rodney's road safety co-ordinator, Jacki Dawson, says
the survey response has been 'tremendous', with drivers being very
honest in admitting their bad road habits.
The surveys were sent to parents through Parakai and
Helensville schools. The schools stand to reap $500 each if they
cana return 30 surveys each.
Concerns expressed by the towns' motorists include
the speed limits outside schools, and the limit along Parkhurst
Road, which varies from 50km/h to 100km/h.
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Kiwi Bank
opens (June 28th, '02)
Helensville has
its own Kiwi Bank.
Now under operation at Helensville Stationery
in Commercial Road, the new bank offers corporate, personal and
sole-trading accounts, as well as latest technology such as internet
and telephone banking.
Unlike other banks, the Kiwi Bank will be open
for trading on Saturdays from 10am to 2pm.
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Helensville
gets cash boost in draft annual plan (May
1st, '02)
Helensville looks
set to have more than $1.3 million spent on works.
The Rodney District Council's draft annual
plan list several areas of proposed spending for the township, with
the majority of the money - $820,000 - earmarked to resolve Helensville's
ongoing water supply problems. Work will include upgrading the current
distribution and water reservoir inlet, increasing treatment capacity,
and investigation future supply options.
The Helensville riverside reserve project has
been allocated $80,000, while the town's cemetery will receive a
$20,000 extension.
Upgrading of Te Moau Ave in Parakai is expected to cost $360,000,
while a further $45,000 will be spent on stormwater lines in Commercial
Road. Money has also been allocated toward skate parks in the area.
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Riverbank
project draws good support (May 1st,
'02)
Helensville's community
is geting behind the town's Riverside Heritage project.
So far more than 200 hours of labour have been
donated by locals, along with several hours of tractor time, and
the result has been the clearing of more than 500m of the Kaipara
riverbank of virtually impenetrable foliage and other debris.
The eventual plan is to make Creek Lane, off
Commercial Road, the hub of the project. A railway crossing and
a platform jutting into the river will be joined by a path which
will follow the course of the river, meeting up with the Pioneer
Village at the Riverside Reserve - a project which is also due to
start shortly.
Ratepayers' Association spokesman Alan
Watkinson is thrilled that the so many in the community - as well
as the Rodney District Council - have got behind the project.
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Big turnout
to tackle night crime (April 20th, '02)
A public meeting
this week to discuss night crime in Helensville and Parakai was
one of the largest ever held in the town.
More than 150 people met with representatives
of the police, local business and ratepayers associations to try
to come up with ways to reduce the problem.
Potential answers included employing a security guard
to patrol Helensville and Parakai, establishing neighbourhood watch
schemes, and creating more activities for youth in the area.
The meeting followed a recent survey by the business
association which found local businesses had suffered more than
80 crimes in the past six months, including theft, vandalism, tagging
and break-ins.
The neighbourhood watch suggestions received
strong support, with more than 50 people promising to join such
a scheme. Not so well received was a suggestion for a curfew on
young people, as police pointed out that only a minority of young
people were causing problems.
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Rodney
growth outstrips everywhere else (April
5th, '02)
The population
of Rodney District is growing at a rate faster than anywhere else
in New Zealand - and the difference is especially noticeable in
the Auckland Region.
Between 1996 and the most recent census held
last year, Rodney's population increased from 66,486 to 76,182 -
a rise of 14.6%. During the same period North Shore City's growth
was 7.4%, Waitakere City's 8.5%, Auckland City's 6.4% and Kaipara
District's just 0.5%.
Rodney's population growth since 1991 has been
greater than for New Zealand as a whole. However, the district only
has two percent of the country's population.
Most growth in Rodney was in the eastern wards,
rather than the western ward (which includes Helensville) and the
northern ward.
Rodney also has a higher-than-average percentage
of elderly residents, with 14.9% over the age of 65 compared with
a national average of 12.1%.
When compared with the rest of New Zealand, Rodney's population
is overwhelmingly European. Just under 94%of rodney residents described
themselves as being of European ethnicity in the census, compared
with a national 80.1%.
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Helensville
locals like their lot - survey (April
4, '02)
Helensville residents
seem to fairly happy with their lot, according to results from an
AC Nielsen survey.
Well over half of those surveyed - 59% - like their
lifestyle and environment, while 42% rate the community spirit highly.
An interesting trend discovered by the survey
was the high numbers of people who work and shop outside their local
area, with 37% working outside the Rodney District, and 34% shopping
outside the district.
Thirty percent of Helensville residents are in
the 35 to 54 age group compared with just 23% district-wide, and
47% or households have children compared with 38% for the district
as a whole.
Residents pet dislikes were the poor standard
of local roads and water quality, and a lack of public transport.
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Survey
shows residents happy with Rodney (March
1, '02)
A survey of more
than 1250 Rodney District residents has shown 93 percent are happy
with living in the district.
In what Rodney Mayor John Law claims is the most
sophisticated survey of its type, residents were questioned on a
range of topics, including what they liked and disliked about their
area.
Helensville and Wellsford residents were least
proud to be part of community, while those in Eastern areas such
as Orewa, whangaparaoa and Snells Beach, were most satisfied with
being in Rodney District.
High on the list of pluses for living in the
district were close proximity to beaches and water, friendly people,
and the peace and quiet. Dislikes raised included the poor standard
of roads, traffic volumes, a lack of public transport and increasing
urbanisation.
More than 500 of those surveyed have put their
names forward to be on a research panel, which will complete the
analysis.
The survey was carried out by research company
ACNeilsen, which says the survey is the most comprehensive it has
ever undertaken for a council.
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100th Helensville
A&P Show a huge success (Feb 24, '02)
The 100th Helensville
A&P Show held yesterday was everything the organisers could
have hoped for.
Threatening bad weather held off and a record
crowd of around 10,000 turned up at the historic occasion to view
a record number of entries in almost every class of competition.
There were so many scarecrows entered in the
indoor exhibit they had to be displayed outside!
The previous evening, Friday, a highly successful
parade was held through the main street of Helensville. It had rained
most of the day, but miraculously cleared for the duration of the
parade. Highlights included a team of oxen and many vintage cars.
The showgrounds were then opened free of charge
as a thank-you to locals for the town's century of support. The
first hour of entertainment and sideshows was dampened by heavy
rain, but the evening cleared and the crowd enjoyed a spectacular
fireworks display as a grand finale.
This was the first time the show had been held over two days.
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Kaipara
wetlands should have international status
(Feb 9, '02)
The Royal New Zealand
Forest & Bird Society says the Kaipara Harbour should be recognised
as a wetland of international importance.
The group says such status would ensure the area was
sustainably managed. It claims the government is not giving enough
recognition to wetlands.
Studies show more than 30,000 migratory waders
visit the southern Kaipara each year during summer, some from as
far away as Alaska and Siberia. Many native birds which breed in
the South Island come to the Kaipara during winter. Some of our
rarest coastal birds, including the fairy tern of which only about
30 remain, breed in the Kaipara.
Large mudflat areas with sufficient food source
for coastal waders are rare - apart from the Kaipara, only the Netherlands
and South Africa have such areas.
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No regional
park for South Head (Jan 18, '02)
The Auckland Regional
Council has given a thumbs down to establishing a regional park
on South Kaipara Head - but a Rodney District Council reserve may
be go ahead instead.
The 68ha farm near Mosquito Bay, owned by an
American rock star, is on the market. The ARC considered purchasing
the property for use as a new regional park, but has now rejected
that idea.
Negotiations are now underway with a potential
buyer who is understood to want to set up a secondary school adventure
camp, along the lines of Outward Bound. The remainder of the property
is proposed as a Rodney District Council reserve.
The Council already has provision for a
road through to Mosquito Bay, and councillor Arnold Gosling, of
Parakai, says the valley could be turned into wetlands and made
into a reserve. A camp ground was another possible use.
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Council
wants weapons range to close (Jan 18,
'02)
South Head's Kaipara
air weapons range should be shut down, says Rodney District Council.
The council's environmental committee wants a
formal request sent to the Ministry of Defence to close the range
and remove any remaining ammunition, now that the airforce is losing
its strike aircraft.
However, the RNZAF range is used for a
variety of defence activities, not just air strikes.
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Helensville
police station will stay open (Jan 18,
'02)
Fears that the
Helensville Police Station could be one of those to close following
leaked Government reports that dozens of stations nationwide will
shut are unfounded.
In fact, North Shore/Waitakere/Rodney district commander
Superintendent Roger Carson says it is likely more police will be
based in the area in the future.
He says the police district's population is predicted
to grow from 440,000 to more than 500,000 over the next four years,
and he is "confident" no stations in the district will
close.
However, he quantifies that statement by
saying the police are looking into whether the existing stations
are in the best places.
The Government denies any stations will
close.
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