Takapuna, Milford, Castor Bay, Forrest Hill and Sunnynook VERED FORTNIGHTLY AN INDEPENDENT VOICE Issue 1 – 15 March 2019
142 –2019 November TNIGHTLY DELIVERED FORTNIGHTLY AN2019 INDEPENDENT VOICE AN INDEPENDENT VOICE Issue 1 –Issue 15 March Issue22, 1 – 2024 15 March
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Extra floor feasible for library building... p4-5
AN INDEPENDENT VOICE Issue 1 – 15 March 2019 Hot rods and frocks rev up Tok Tok scores People’s Choice threepeat... p9 Takapuna... p12-13
Concreting ruins one of world’s best lava examples Geologist rues ‘wanton damage’ to fossil field Centuries-old lava flows on the coast between Takapuna and Milford have been severely damaged by concrete infill, prompting action by Auckland Council’s compliance team. The flows are part of the Takapuna Reef Fossil Forest – which has been described as “one of the best examples of lava-preserved forest in the world”. Around 60 metres of concreting has been done at the seaward edge of 19 O’Neills Ave Takapuna, beside the Takapuna-Milford coastal walkway. Council’s compliance team has ordered the owners of the property to come up with an action plan to remedy the damage. The Takapuna Reef Fossil Forest is protected in the Auckland Unitary Plan as an outstanding natural feature (ONF). The damaged section “is one of the best preserved and most easily visible stretches of the outstanding natural feature,” said a report by volcanologist Kate Lewis, Auckland Council’s Natural Features specialist. The owner of 19 O’Neills Ave told the Observer through an interpreter that he was finding a firm to remove the concrete and would send a plan to council as soon as possible. The concreting had begun a couple of years ago to stabilise a To page 7
Prime site... Geologist Bruce Hayward, who leads visits to the Takapuna reef fossil field, calls it an “irreplaceable natural treasure”. Left: Concreting over and between darker lava rocks.
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