Why we’re all in this together.
Looking back. Moving forwards.
How did rural residents take on a power-hungry organisation with plans to string megatowers
through their valleys? Homeowners against Line Trespassers, or HALT, was the determined
group of locals from Hunua, Ararimu, Paparimu, Clevedon and Bombay who banded
together to take on the Goliath of Transpower in 2004.
New to the community, fresh from the city, I was astonished at the apparent lack of planning
that had gone into the Transpower proposal to run pylons through privately owned farmland.
This was beyond NIMB. People came up with audacious solutions (the most obvious, as
evidenced around the world, and in Aotearoa was to bury the lines), as well as provocative
things to do with the megatowers themselves. Other genius, grounded suggestions included
placing pylons in the Hunua Ranges, as well as investigating other power sources such as
hydro from the notorious Manukau and Pahurehure inlets.
This wasn’t about preventing the delivery of power to Auckland. It was about how that
delivery was to be implemented. When the then CEO of Transpower (where could he be
now?) was asked where the power was going to come from, his reply was far from articulate.
Thousands of pages of documents were dissected; scientists, engineers, ecologists, doctors
contributed their knowledge and skill. People with businesses, farms, families put in
hundreds, thousands of hours, blood, sweat and tears to combat the heavily funded and
resourced Transpower forces.
The community rallied; a historic march from the Hunua School to the Hunua Hall where the
black shirted Transpower execs played at ‘consulting’. No wonder locals wince when they
hear that the local or central Government is ‘consulting’, as the decision had been made
behind closed doors.
The residents who lived through this in the early 2000s experienced loss of land value, and,
heart breakingly, of generational land. Not to mention impacts on mental, physical and
spiritual health.
Today more people are actively seeking alternative sources of power, through wind and solar
farms, as well as ways to be less connected with the grid. The recent toppling of a Northland
pylon reminded some of us of the negative impact (excuse the pun) of these structures, and
that a catastrophic collapse of the network could happen.
The sky is falling.
Before climate change became a crisis, it was the Christchurch earthquakes that motivated
members of hapvra to reach out to Civil Defence (at that time) to develop an Emergency
response plan.
Top of mind was the fact that as Hunua was responsible for 60% of Auckland’s water (those
beautiful Hunua ranges and dams) we thought we would be top of the list for rescue.
That proved not quite to be the case with the flooding of the Wairoa River and Camp Adair
and more recently the ‘Auckland storms’ and Cyclone Gabriel. As a voice for the three
valleys, hapvra doubled down on exploring ways to become more resilient.
Shifting landscape.
Fast forward to 2024 and hapvra is bolstering its focus to help protect, nurture its
environment, and the people. That hasn’t shifted in two decades. But the landscape its
volunteers work in, has.
To do this takes more than a team of determined volunteers with shared purpose, it requires
resource to be able to address and manage the many moving parts of the environmental
jigsaw. In the past year Hapvra has applied for and received funding through Franklin Local
Board and Auckland Council to support hapvra in developing environmental and emergency
management, and disaster resilience planning. This work will take up at least the next 12 -24
months.
hapvra is collaborating with other groups and communities to build ongoing resilience so that
when the recently announced “80% chance of another Gabrielle within 50 years” happens,
locals will be prepared, ready, and able.
How? Watch this space.
- Article written by Jane Berney who has been involved in community ratepayers and
resident’s associations HALT and HAPVRA for over 20 years. The content is her
personal experience and opinion.
