Watercare in hot water with Titirangi locals

Titirangi residents are demanding answers from Watercare over what they allege is a proposed sale of a popular bush walk.

While the Auckland Council-controlled organisation is denying a sale of Exhibition Dr to private developers is on the table, locals are disputing these claims.

Titirangi Residents and Ratepayers Association (TRRA) chairperson Dr Mels Barton said Watercare were profiteering at the cost of public land.

“We’re not going to let that happen, over my dead body is that going to happen,” she said.

Exhibition Dr backs onto the Waitākere Ranges Regional Park, and the walking track is built on an old tramline.

Dr Barton said despite talks of a sale to Auckland Council, Watercare is unlikely to get the kind of money it would from a private investor.

She said the timing was convenient, given the debate over potential sites for the development of a new water treatment plant, which includes Manuka Rd in Titirangi.

“I can’t believe Watercare have been so stupid as to actually admit that they’re thinking about selling Exhibition Dr in the middle of this fervour over where to put the treatment plant.”

Dr Barton said the TRRA wouldn’t accept the proposed new development unless Watercare and the Council guarantee in writing that Exhibition Dr will be kept publicly open and accessible.

Watercare water supply manager Priyan Perera​ said while a sale or land swap arrangement with the council was a possibility, claims of a sale to private investors were “coming out of nowhere”.

“We’ve been working really constructively for several years now with Auckland Council on how best to manage Exhibition Dr. While Watercare owns it, we have no intention of changing its current purpose or the community values,” he said.

Waitākere Ranges Local Board chairperson Greg Presland said he had been advised by council officers that Watercare is looking at divesting from Exhibition Dr.

Mr Presland said he then asked Watercare if it would rule out selling to a third party.

“There’s an email that [Watercare has] sent to me which I’m trying to get them to agree for me to release which talks about divestment, and I interpret divestment to mean selling to anyone not selling only to council.

“The last response I got from them was that it was unlikely but it hasn’t been ruled out, and the process they’ve used suggests it’s still a possibility. I’d prefer it not to be possible at all.”

A new treatment plant in Titirangi would need to use Exhibition Dr land so the two issues are now effectively intertwined, Mr Presland said.

“The whole issue is very heated right now and I think everyone does need certainty.”