Councillor Julie Fairey

I’m set up for today’s councillor clinic at Mt Roskill Library - you’ll spot me as soon as you come in the front door 🙂.

I’m here until 3.30pm today.

I’m adding lots of future clinics in July and August at the moment so check out my Events for more chances for a chat.

Love this!

I worked at the Mount Roskill Library in 2003 as a library assistant, and Jenny was working there then.

Later I was on the local board in 2011 when the major refurbishment was done, and led that for the local board as the community portfolio holder at the time. I worked downstairs for years too!

It's still my fave library and I pop in regularly to pick up holds or do a Justice of the Peace shift at the CAB; the staff are such a delight.

55 not out: Three Kings Library staff notch half a century Mount Roskill Library staff Abebe Mekonnen and Jenny Cook recently celebrated milestones, with a combined five decades of mahi. 

Sad to see these unnecessary community cuts proposed by a local board in my rohe (area); thanks Jon Turner for identifying them and bringing them out into the light, and for fighting back.

Good summary from Greater Auckland of Labour’s policy to introduce a $20 weekly fare cap for public transport in Auckland (and several other cities).

This is the kind of support for public transport, and addressing cost of living challenges, we’ve been waiting for. Great to see a major party making this a priority, for people and planet. 😍

Labour's Fare Cap Election Policy - Greater Auckland The Labour Party has finally delivered an election policy: it’s about transport and the cost of living, and we think it’s a good one – they propose 4. Is the MoT just plain wrong on this stuff? We concur with … Continued

Kia ora folks, I’m dealing with some unexpected health stuff at the moment so won’t be available much this week.

I’ll attend tomorrow’s big committee meeting online (if the chair approves my request).

To help manage things while I’m recovering I will likely turn comments off here for a few days and will have very limited ability to respond to tags and messages. I do all my own social media, there is no staff support for it, so when I can’t do it no one can. I appreciate your patience while I deal with this.

Photo is from Workshop in Mt Eden (where Olaf’s was), a sign and a Sign.

Hot on the heels of my May monthly summary, here's my official councillor report, covering off the wide range of constituent issues raised and going into detail about my diary over the month.

Not all councillors do reports and there's no requirement or template. I do this myself so any errors are mine (with some admin help to turn it into a PDF).

This report goes up here and on the published agendas of my two main home local boards (Albert-Eden and Puketāpapa).

May 2026

Here’s my monthly summary of work as a ward councillor for Albert-Eden-Puketāpapa for May. My more detailed official report will be up on my FB page in a few days.

This post gives you an overview of some of the issues I've been working on and some of my highlights from the month.

Issues coming up in May included :
- Plan Change 120 queries:
1. Where is the process up to (work on scenarios which go to an initial vote for limited feedback on 9th June)
2. When will the public get a say again (after a vote on a final amended PC120 in late July there will be a four week public submission period)
3. What’s proposed to change particularly for building heights and flood prone land (Heights is v scenario dependent, but staff have recommended downzoning quite a lot more flood prone land and I’ll have a better idea of what that looks like in a few days)
I also did a presentation on Plan Change 120 to a public meeting hosted by Helen White MP, on 18th May.

- Ongoing worries about the development on the former Unitec land, especially damage to Building One (council has now issued a compliance notice meaning Building One must have entry points addressed by July 13th, and talks continue with developer, owner and MHUD), what’s happening with access to tje playgrounds and cycleways that have been built (don’t know yet) and construction impacts (developer meeting held with residents near the Whai Rawa works last week)

- Council’s budget for 2026/27 aka the Annual Plan - questions about this before the Big Vote last week, and then how I voted and why afterwards. I put up a (very very) long post about this on 27th May.

During May I had a tenacious cold so had to postpone some things (including two councillor clinics) and be online for others. I attended 7 committee meetings, 6 workshops, and 11 briefings or meetings focused on information eg a session on what happens next as the Recovery Office winds up.

I had a ward catch-up with the chair and deputy of Albert-Eden Local Board and the deputy of the Puketāpapa Local Board, attended the Albert-Eden Local Board May meeting, caught up with Waitematā Local Board’s chair by phone, and listened to most of the local boards present on the Annual Plan.

Some of my favourite work-related events in May were: the delightful Roskill Together Roskill Resilience event in Wesley (with snow!), giving an update at MARA (Mt Albert Residents Association)’s May meeting, doing a guest lecture on road speeds and transport reform at University of Auckland - Waipapa Taumata Rau, attending the first Ethnic Communities Advisory Panel for the new term, taking part in the Eden Park community liaison group, talking with Te Whau Pathway’s trustees, speaking at the Save Moana rally, having a behind the scenes tour at Auckland Museum, and being on a 95bFM hosted panel for Plot Twist at Auckland Writers And Readers Festival.

Photo of the month:
The Auckland Harbour Bridge lit up yellow for Road Safety Week, organised by Brake, NZ’s road safety charity. The moon makes it look less yellow than it was, but I reckon it’s still a nice picture ☺️

Questions and comments welcome - it's always best to do that by email to [email protected] if you can as that makes it easier for me to track and get it in the system, and connect you up with the right people to assist.

Sunday summary for my week 🙂

Monday 25th May included an online elected members’ briefing, the bi-monthly catch-up with Auckland Urban Development Office for Richard Hills and I, a preparation meeting for the next Policy, Planning & Development Committee, and a ward meeting with chair and deputy of Albert-Eden Local Board and deputy of Puketāpapa Local Board.

Tuesday 26th May was the big council budget votes, with a six hour Budget & Performance Committee meeting, followed by another hour or so Governing Body meeting. I wrote a very long post about this on Wednesday.

Wednesday 27th May started with the weekly Mayor & Chairs meeting which I did online, and later had workshops on transport decisions coming into council and Plan Change 120. I also spoke at a council staff development session on how to give good advice to elected members.

Thursday 28th May I did my fortnightly 95bFM interview for The Wire, then attended the Albert Eden Local Board meeting, ably chaired by Margi Watson. Luckily they were able to bring my written report forward to speak to, as they were still going at 2pm when I needed to join an online briefing on ferries.

Friday 29th May I had booked a day off ages ago (anticipating budget week would be full on) and did a Justice of the Peace shift at Mt Roskill Citizens’ Advice Bureau.

Over the weekend I’ve largely been doing fanily stuff - I’m still getting over the cold I had earlier in the month and I’m keen to stop it rebounding again in June. Did go to Miss Riverhead Cafe with my foodie junior associate to try one of the tasty dishes on the Akl Iconic Eats list that came out earlier this month - delicious Turkish Eggs (and I don’t usually like eggs).

As it’s the end of May I’m hoping to have my monthly update up in the next day or two and my written report for May a bit after that.

This interchange was built to be the start of a motorway along Dominion Road which was never done.

It’s now way over spec for what is needed and locks up a bunch of land on the city fringe that could be developed, creating a more people friendly area.

I’ve taken on the suggestion from long time City Vision member Graeme Easte to look at how this could be redeveloped into a more normal intersection, which would also help deal with the George St rail crossing by providing alternative routes for locals.

Auckland Urban Development Office are investigating!

Thanks to Auckland gem Timespanner for this reminder of what used to be.

"Dominion Road Interchange construction, 1964.
Work on New North Road, Kingsland, for the Dominion Road Interchange, the Kiwi Bacon Company building (right)."

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