HELP THE AUCKLAND HORTICULTURAL COUNCIL FIGHT THE ALBERT EDEN LOCAL BOARD

The Auckland Council and Albert-Eden Local Board (AELB) want to move the Auckland Horticultural Council (AHC) from our current premises at 990 Great North Road, Western Springs to nearby buildings which are not fit for purpose. We have been in our current premises for nearly 20 years and the AELB promised us in 2018 that they would "work with AHC to achieve an outcome satisfactory to both parties".

However, despite our attempts to work with the AELB, their suggestions to us have been nothing but insulting to our requirements.

We need funds so that we can continue to pay for our superb barrister who understands our needs and is putting the AELB in their place. But of course she won't work for free!

If you cannot support us with money, please considering signing our petition here: https://www.change.org/p/auckland-city-council-save-the-ahc-premises-from-auckland-council

Here's more background about the proposed premises:

In 1989 the Auckland Horticulture Council contributed many hundreds of thousands of dollars to a Auckland Council project upgrading and restoring the club rooms and to build the Western Springs Garden Community Halls. This was a substantial gift to the people of Auckland. The Auckland City council later bulldozed the gardens.

We are currently in the old clubrooms of the Chamberlain Park Golf Course (before it was divided by the North Western Motorway) and we had always anticipated the move to the Western Springs Garden Community Halls.

However, in the new building, the main meeting room is very narrow and has a dog leg in it. It is merely a hallway with toilets. We physically cannot set up staging for plant and floral exhibitions and still be able to have space for people to circulate around the exhibits.

The other meeting rooms can only be accessed by walking through the main room and other meeting rooms. It is not practical to have people disturbing a meeting or function in progress just to access one of the other rooms. The entry to all of our areas is also directly through the main meeting room. The entrance is not accessible by vehicle and is a considerable distance away from the carpark on the opposite side of the building.

There is limited storage area and the total building area substantially less than what we now have.

The majority of attendees to AHC meetings are elderly and are unable to take public transport. The AELB originally offered us exclusive use to only 3 carparks. Luckily, this offer increased to 25 carparks but those carparks will go unused unless the AELB recognise our need for at least, preferential use of the exhibition hall.

The AHC is represents a huge community of recreational gardeners and is deserving of Local Government Support.

We desperately need your support to apply pressure to councillors so they understand the great public interest of the AHC. We are one of Auckland's oldest organisations and our future is in jeopardy if we cannot hold our plant and floral shows.