I so regret being unable to be present at this AGM – my first as Chair of the Wellington Civic Trust.I offer my apologies through Alan Smith, Deputy Chair and Secretary, who will present to you this 2009-2010 Annual Report.

It hardly seems that a year has passed since Seddon Bennington, our previous chairman, spoke to this meeting. Two months later, in July, he and his longtime friend Marcella Jackson tragically died in a storm in the Tararuas. This shocked us enormously then, and saddens us still.

It was with gratitude and with great pleasure shortly after our last AGM that the Trust made Di Buchan – past chair and more recently deputy chair – a Life Member. This she accepted, expressing the desire to continue to be involved, albeit at a greater distance, with the activities of the Trust.

Our newsletters during the year do, we hope, keep you informed of the many and various issues and actions that the Trust is involved with in this city.Some are focus areas for the Trust and we continue to keep a very watchful eye on developments that are planned, such as the Waterfront, the Capital Centre, transport developments, the District Plan.Others arise rather out of the blue and we determine how best to respond, and on occasions do so by written submission and followed by physical presentation. You will see that a number of these have been presented during the year.

Our main activities for the year April 2009 – March 2010 are covered in brief here:

• Plans for the Waterfront are always a Trust priority, even with the major and successful Hilton Hotel/Outer T Appeal now well behind us.
• Early in the year we received notification of Wellington City Council consents for the Wharewaka building on the site near the lagoon. The Trust welcomes a strong Maori cultural presence on the waterfront, but we are concerned that major changes have been made to the design for which the resource consents were granted after public hearings. The new design, which is one building, not two, was approved without notification to the general public.
• We made a detailed submission to the resource consent hearing on Variation 11. We were disappointed that the Hearing Commissioners did not accept our central argument that the changes sought would hinder rather than facilitate public engagement, but we were pleased that our objection that the Variation would allow buildings that would be out of scale with surrounding structures was largely accepted.
•  The Trust made a submission on the Draft Waterfront Plan 2009/10.We drew the Council’s attention to the need to be as reluctant to spend money on the project as the market appeared to be wary about investing in it.We noted that the Council had reversed an earlier cost-saving decision to wind-up the waterfront company and manage the project in-house and that they also seemed determined to spend $400,000 on new toilets at Kumutoto.
• In August 2009 we held another in our biennial series of public seminars. Round About the Basin was a full house and generally considered by those who attended to be a valuable presentation of information and views by many who are involved and concerned about the solutions that are being considered by the NZTA and other agencies for improved traffic flow for State Highway 1, and in particular the Basin Reserve and nearby areas, including the long-proposed War Memorial Park. Out of this seminar, the Trust formed the resolution that the issues raised at the seminar should be kept in focus and followed through, with its firm view being that the essential character of the Basin Reserve should be protected and enhanced and that a “Wellington solution” be sought on this important issue. This view was conveyed post-seminar in:
• a letter to the Minister of Transport and the Mayor summarizing the main outcomes of discussions at the seminar, and by
• participation in the Wellington City Council/ Greater Wellington Regional Council Bus Review, which is a precursor the public transport review 2010/11. A meeting was held with the GWRC and this was followed up just a few weeks ago by presentation by our Transport group to Greater Wellington’s Transport and Access Committee – the Trust’s view being that a stronger city focus and commitment to public transport will alter the pressure on highway construction, which in the case of the Basin Reserve may result in a solution that many feel will irreparably alter – to its detriment – this special Wellington place.
• we patiently await outcomes of the NZTA decisions on options and eventually solutions for State Highway 1 in the Basin Reserve area – now further delayed from the initial February date.
• In September the Wellington City Council launched its Capital Centre project at Parliament.The project recognized the fundamental value and architectural character of the political heart of our nation to New Zealanders, and to Wellingtonians. The Trust has a special interest in this project because it is based on an idea it conceived and championed as long ago as 1987.No action is likely in the near future, but under the LTCCP funds are allocated in 2012/13 for street improvements in Molesworth Street and in 2016/17 for Whitmore Street.We hope that these works will be undertaken within an overall design brief for the Capital Centre. The Trust spent some time considering the effects on the Capital Centre area of the then-planned regeneration of the 1987 National Library building, although, in the event, this has now been greatly scaled back.
• Discussions have been held from time to time on urban parks and it was decided to work in tandem with the Architectural Centre to develop a joint position paper.In the first instance this joint paper will feed into the Council’s “Wellington 2040” project.
• In the latter part of 2009 the Wellington City Council invited submissions on its long-term concepts for Wellington 2040 – the Future of our Central City. Recognising that this broad policy area and longer perspective would allow a full expression of the Trust’s goal of helping to make Wellington “the best of all possible places to live and work”, the Board wrote and submitted a substantial submission. This document (included in our last newsletter to members) identified a move from private transport to public transport as the key agent of change that will serve the city and the environment in the future, and suggested that funding be directed towards this shift rather than towards roading. Planning for reducing carbon emissions is vital and urgent.Wellington is of a size and in a position that it can be innovative and lead the way in its planning for sustainable, efficient, socially and environmentally responsible city development.
• Input was again made to the statutory Long Term Community Council Community Plan (LTCCP), reiterating the Trust’s developed views.There is cause for some concern about the real effectiveness of such processes and the danger they present of “combat fatigue” for community organisations. It is something the Trust needs to remain alert to. It must concentrate its resources and efforts to best effect rather than spreading them too thinly.
• The Wellington City Council has recently released its Draft Climate Change Action Plan for consultation.While the Board recognizes that the draft document is short-term and lacks determined strategies, the Trust has prepared a submission – our focus being the urgent need for a longer-term plan that carries effective measures for reductions of greenhouse gas emissions.
• We last held the Civic Trust Awards in 2008, and the Board recently decided to hold the next Awards in 2011, while focusing this year on a seminar later in the year on the issues that were fundamental in the “Wellington 2040” submission. The panel discussion following this AGM is the first part of this focus and your responses and comments about these issues will help guide the incoming Board on a wider forum later in the year.
• Those of you who travel up Molesworth Street will have noticed that the Thai Embassy site is no longer the eyesore it has been for some years. The Trust has repeatedly sought for action on this, and rebuilding is now underway.
• A submission on Thorndon Quay parking and cycling proposals was presented in March this year.
• A submission on The Greater Wellington Regional Council’s Draft Wairarapa Corridor Plan was made in March this year to reinforce the Trust’s view that the impacts on traffic entering the central city have to be taken full account of.
• The Board has written to the Council questioning the process adopted for granting resource consent for the proposed Wellywood sign near the airport. The sign is significantly larger than that allowed under the District Plan which would suggest that the application for resource consent should have been advertised and open to public objection.
• The Civic Trust is proud to be membership-based and is always alert to new ways of strengthening this. The Board recently resolved to seek corporate members during the next year in the hope of both increasing membership but particularly with a view to representing members who can support in various ways the activities of the Trust. We have sent a letter to seek interest from a first group of possible corporate members.

Finally – about the Board. As a relatively new Civic Trust member, and in this past year as Chair, what continues to strike and impress me – and now makes me incredibly grateful – is the commitment and skills of the trustees.Our board members have impressive experience in a wide range of pertinent areas and the attention and personal time they give to the various areas we discuss and take action in is considerable.

Hearts can sink when board members must, for various reasons, move on.

• This year Bernie Napp resigned after a short but keen involvement.
• Seddon Bennington was co-opted back onto the Board, having stepped down as Chairman.
• Simon Brodie resigned as Treasurer in March 2010 and David Tai has taken on this role.
• Jessica Closson enthusiastically accepted cooption onto the Board but her involvement was very brief due to her husband’s relocation back to the USA.
• David Pucher, who has taken responsibility for the newsletter for some 5 years now, has travel plans with his family and other life plans that see him moving on.

Our heartfelt thanks to all of these people for their efforts in the many Trust interests.

I wish to make special mention of Tony Town. Twinkly-eyed, humorous Tony has been a stalwart of the Trust since 2006. His expertise on the District Plan and Resource Consent issues has been invaluable and over these years he has ferreted out information and attended many meetings, read and interpreted many dense documents on our behalf, written letters seeking clarification as well as submissions.We regret his need for a bit more peace and quiet, but it is so richly deserved that we can only say thanks for everything you have done for the Trust Tony and wish you and Anne all the best in the future.

The sinking feeling with such departures as those above is often again boosted with the personalities, skills and commitment of new board members, and the board, while seeking new trustees now, continues in great heart.

All the trustees have shared the work through the various portfolios and I thank them all (Toni Izzard, Blair Badcock, David Pucher, Simon Brodie, Charmaine Smit, Bill Robertson, David Tai and Bill Buxton).

I particularly thank the convenors of these portfolio areas for their always impressive efforts and the many hours they give to this work.

• Waterfront – Peter Brooks
• Transport and Traffic – Chris Watson
• Capital Centre – Peter Brooks
• District Plan – Tony Town
• Amalgamation – Glen Evans (this, while currently a peripheral issue, may assume more relevance given the Trust’s constitutional interest in the “City of Wellington”).

Finally, I thank Alan Smith – not mentioned above although he engages frequently with these groups – for his considerable secretarial skills, his clarification of issues in countless emails to the trustees, and for being such a staunch partner to me in this role.

Sharmian Firth — Chair
May 2010